


COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 







THE SUPREME NEED 








THE 

SUPREME NEED 


By y 

■r 

FRANCIS B: DENIO 

Professor in Bangor Theological Seminary 



New York Chicago Toronto 

Fleming H. Revell Company 


London 


and 


Edinburgh 


Copyright, 1913, by 

FRANCIS B. DENIO 



FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 

New York : 158 Fifth Avenue 
Chicago : 125 N. Wabash Ave. 
Toronto : 25 Richmond St., W. 
London : 21 Paternoster Square 
Edinburgh : 100 Princes Street 


JAN 24 1914 

©CLA362811 


WIFE 


TO MY 

To whose sympathy this volume owes more 
than can be expressed in words. 



PREFACE 


O NE of the most encouraging features of the 
last twenty-five years has been the multi- 
plication of books respecting the Holy 
Spirit and His relation to the life and work of 
Christian believers. It seems to the writer that a 
Christian teacher can do his generation no better 
service than to increase the volume of earnest and 
thoughtful exhortation to consider carefully the 
nature and conditions of the gift and work of the 
Holy Spirit. By this means he may hope to pro- 
mote a diligent striving after a full measure of His 
presence. The world needs that “ Christian na- 
tions ” be christianized almost more than that 
heathen nations be evangelized. 

The present volume is a logical successor to the 
l Supreme Leader published in 1900. The theme of 
that volume was the Christian doctrine of the Holy 
Spirit. It touched with no fulness on the applica- 
tion of the doctrine to the Christian life. This 
volume is devoted to the subject briefly treated in 
that one, and develops it in directions not even sug- 
gested in that one, which is now out of print. 

As one studies this subject he is compelled to 
recognize the insufficiency of the knowledge which 
he has derived from experience and observation. 
7 


8 


PREFACE 


He must broaden his knowledge by the knowledge 
of others. He jots down phrases and sentences 
for stimulus to thought or for subjects of reflec- 
tion. In quotation points they are to be found 
in the following pages, and the writer cannot now 
assign them to their author. They are mostly, if 
not wholly, to be found on the pages of one of 
the following authors: Bounds, Power Through 
Prayer; Clark, Philosophy of Christian Experi- 
ence; Downer, Mission and Ministration of the 
Holy Spirit; Potten, His Divine Power ; Edghill, 
The Spirit of Power , to which the second chapter 
is largely due, and Davison, The Indwelling Spirit ; 
which is the most suggestive book that the present 
writer has found. 

May this volume and all the others contribute to 
the full coming of the kingdom of our Lord. 


CONTENTS 


I. The Importance of the Theme . n 

II. What Has the Holy Spirit Done 
for Christian Life and Work in 


the Past? . . 19 

III. Neglect of the Spirit and Ab- 

sence of Power . . . . 30 

IV. Necessity of the Spirit for Ef- 

fective Service .... 38 

V. Necessity of the Holy Spirit for 

Living a Christian Life . . 48 

VI. The Holy Spirit and the Desire 

for Things Better ... 57 

VII. The Renewal of Spiritual Life . 66 

VIII. The Faith That Comes by the 

Spirit 75 

IX. Aspiration and the Spirit . . 81 

X. The Spirit and His Witness to 

Sonship 85 

XI. The Character Proper to Sons . 90 

XII. The Spirit as Guide to the Truth 99 

XIII. The Fruit of the Spirit . . 108 

XIV. The Natural Powers and the 

Fruits of the Spirit . . .119 

9 


10 


CONTENTS 


XV. How Do the Gifts of the Spirit 

Come? 122 

XVI. Sanctifying Grace and Efficiency 

in Service . . . .126 

XVII. Other Gifts, Courage, Strength, 

Prayer, Guidance . . .132 

XVIII. Gifts for Service . . .141 

XIX. Natural Powers and the Gifts 

for Service . . . .152 

XX. Development of Latent Powers 

and Special Gifts . . . 157 

XXI. The Relative Value of the Gifts 

and Graces . . . .162 

XXII. Signs of the Redemptive Spirit’s 

Working in Life . . . 169 

XXIII. Signs of the Spirit’s Presence in 

Service 175 

XXIV. Conditions of Receiving the Spirit 

in One’s Life . . . .185 

XXV. The Conditions of Receiving the 

Spirit of Power for Service . 191 

XXVI. Besetting Perils .... 201 

XXVII. Why Do Men Ask for a Gift of 
the Holy Spirit and Fail to Re- 
ceive It? 214 

Bibliography 221 

Index 227 


I 


The Importance of the Theme 

T HE scientific spirit or the love of knowledge 
for its own sake would seem to be enough 
to induce Christian believers to gain as full 
a knowledge as possible of the Holy Spirit and His 
relations to their lives. When the intrinsic im- 
portance of the subject is also taken into account, 
we must confess our astonishment at the fact that 
no portion of Christian truth has been less fully 
explored. 

This fact is remarkable because the Holy Spirit 
is so completely the source of Christian life and 
activity that we cannot gain the point of view 
which will give a correct understanding of Chris- 
tianity while in ignorance of the relations of the 
Holy Spirit to the Christian life. Indeed the dis- 
tinctive feature of Christianity is the fact that it 
is a redeeming power and the Spirit is given to 
those who are being redeemed. It follows from 
this that a universally high standard of Christian 
living and effective Christian service is dependent 
on the presence and influence of the Holy Spirit. 

Is it at all likely that Christians will receive a 
full measure of the presence and influence of the 
11 


12 


THE SUPREME NEED 


Holy Spirit without more knowledge on this sub- 
ject than is common? The mere statement of the 
question shows the only possible answer. Chris- 
tians must recognize their dependence upon the 
Holy Spirit before they can come into maturity of 
life and character, and before they can attain high- 
est effectiveness in service. 

The need just stated is not merely an individual 
need. It is the need of organized Christianity as 
it exists in the churches. It is a need that is con- 
stantly increasing in urgency. The tasks pressed 
upon the churches of Christ show that they must 
use all their resources for conquering the world. 
How can they use their resources unless they ascer- 
tain quite fully what their resources are and what 
are the conditions on which they are fully available ? 

Peoples and individuals who refuse to yield to 
the claims of Christ in spite of this fact, neverthe- 
less, possess some truth. Not easily will they be 
brought to concede the supremacy of the Christian 
religion. Some religions hoary with age, roused 
into activity by Christianity, are confronting the 
churches of Christ with vigor which has come from 
their contact with Christianity. Some of them are 
attempting to overcome it with a missionary zeal 
copied from her own. Again, where Christianity 
has attained greatest maturity and has shown great- 
est power over society at large, there men are found 
who declare that Christianity has done her work. 
These men have modern culture, fresh life, and 


THE IMPORTANCE OF THE THEME 13 


often high ideals, for the most part due to Chris- 
tianity, and they claim that their ideals contain truth 
more complete in its finality than anything Chris- 
tianity has to offer. 

Thus the churches of Christ are now facing 
spiritual opposition mightier and more subtle than 
any in the past. The nature of this opposition 
makes it evident that Christianity has not yet at- 
tained the supremacy that is claimed for it. It even 
awakens the thought that if Christianity has done 
the best it can do, some nobler ideal must be ac- 
cepted and some greater power must be found be- 
fore mankind will become what it might become. 

In the face of such facts the frank confession 
should be made that the Christian churches have 
neither attained their own ideals nor have they yet 
availed themselves of all the power within their 
reach. They need fully to recognize their tasks 
and to learn how the tasks are to be performed. 
It is not enough that religious teachers should know 
the conditions of power. The knowledge needs to 
become common in our churches. As a body the 
individual churches must conform more completely 
to the leadership of the Holy Spirit both in life 
and service. 

The truth about the Holy Spirit concerns not 
only His broad and general relations to the great 
movements which we call Christian civilization, but 
it also concerns the close and immediate relations 
of the Spirit to each individual life. Indeed Hi$ 


14 * 


THE SUPREME NEED 


direct relation is always to an individual life. If 
the immanence of God has any meaning, it means 
that we all are in such relation to the Infinite and 
Holy that, aside from the powers resident in us 
which we call natural powers, there is a normal pos- 
sibility for us to receive additions to the natural 
powers. These additions are what the Scripture 
means when it speaks of a man receiving the Spirit, 
or being filled with the Spirit. 

It is the office of the Spirit to bring about in each 
man the normal development of his capacities. 
This He accomplishes by coming into close associa- 
tion with the man, not merely at his side, but 
within him. (Jo. xiv. 16, 17). 

Since the need of the churches is the need of 
the great body of its individual members, we turn 
to the question what the Scripture and Christian 
experience teach as to the office of the Holy Spirit. 

The study of the physical sciences has received 
new impulse within the last generation because it 
has become evident that when new facts are brought 
to light they are often found to have values un- 
foreseen, and to supply long- felt wants. For this 
reason the study of the physical sciences is more 
closely allied to industrial life than it was a hun- 
dred years ago. 

In like manner we may bring the facts about the 
Holy Spirit closer to our daily life. The Holy 
Spirit has been the supreme need of all generations, 
and is the supreme need of ours. The redemptive 


THE IMPORTANCE OF THE THEME 15 


work of Christ and the leadership of the Spirit 
have been the conditions of high spiritual life dur- 
ing eighteen centuries. Have we as yet entered 
into the fulness of our inheritance? Why might 
not diligent study of the offices, the mind and the 
methods of the Holy Spirit open the way to changes 
in our Christian life as great as those which steam 
and electricity have made in our physical life? 

Remember that man was placed in the world to 
subdue it and to exercise dominion over it. All 
that he has ever accomplished toward this two- 
fold result has been due to his gaining a knowledge 
of the forces in the physical world and also due 
to his conformity to the conditions on which those 
forces could be controlled. Mankind under the 
pressure of physical needs, and desires and also of 
higher motives, has followed the discoverers of 
physical forces in the use of them. 

Are not our spiritual needs also pressing might- 
ily? Is there no sense of spiritual want making it 
urgent that we master the conditions of power on 
the spiritual side of our lives as well as on the 
physical side? Must not such mastery and use of 
these conditions become as common in the spiritual 
life as in the physical? 

The Holy Spirit is the source of all that is good 
and true in human thought. Wherever a noble 
ideal exists in the mind of any man in any part 
of the earth, there the Spirit has been at work. 
Where the ideal exists and a man has striven for 


16 


THE SUPREME NEED 


its attainment, there the Spirit has been the source 
of power to strive for attainment, and He has also 
enabled the soul to adjust itself to the conditions 
of receiving power. Wherever the ideal is not real- 
ized there the impulse of the Spirit has not yet 
reached its goal. There the Spirit has not been 
permitted fully to lead — for without His leadership 
is no noble ideal realized. 

Where noble ideals are wanting there He has 
not been permitted to form them. Where no vision 
is the people perish, for the Spirit has been repelled 
and been kept out of life and thought. 

He is pressing steadily on each human soul to 
form noblest ideals, to impel toward their attain- 
ment and to guide all the way. The great results 
in the physical world did not come to mankind 
without conditions which had to be fulfilled, no 
more have they in the spiritual world. 

There are many and great spiritual needs. Is 
the unity of a divided church of Christ one of the 
needs? It can come only in the Spirit. Our first 
need is to seek a unity of the Spirit. We need to 
be honest with ourselves and with God in the mat- 
ter, for it is impossible to be deficient in honesty 
and obtain supreme blessings, or the supply of 
most urgent needs, or the most precious gifts of 
God. 

We need to study the operations of the Spirit 
that we may gain knowledge of His mind and 
method. 


THE IMPORTANCE OF THE THEME 17 

We need to see where the Spirit has withheld 
His power, and learn what errors to avoid. 

We need to learn to detect His present activities 
so as to adjust ourselves to them. 

We need to learn the kinds of His operations, 
and those kinds of activities on our part which He 
most fully assists, and the kinds of results for 
which we may hope. 

We need to learn the conditions on which we may 
receive His guidance and assistance, and what the 
conditions are by which He may be repelled. 

We need to learn the modes in which we may most 
fully open ourselves to His influence, and also, as 
fully as we may, the ways in which He does influ- 
ence us, so* that we may most fully cooperate with 
Him. 

As the Paraclete of this dispensation the Holy 
Spirit is establishing the Kingdom of God. This 
is His office work. He brings this result to pass 
by His redemptive work in individual lives, by quali- 
fying individuals to continue the redemptive work of 
Jesus Christ, by giving a redemptive character to 
family and civic life, and to all modes of educa- 
tional activity, by the establishment and mainte- 
nance of the Church of Christ, and by filling all 
social relations and activities with the redemptive 
spirit of Jesus. 

In truth the reverent study of the facts in re- 
gard to the relations and methods of the Spirit of 
God with men can be nothing but wholesome. 


18 


THE SUPREME NEED 


Reverence will compel us to recognize the limits of 
our knowledge and the tentative nature of all 
speculations or guesses beyond the limits of actual 
knowledge. Reverence for truth and for reality 
will especially keep us from dogmatic affirmations 
or denials of facts or truths where we have no 
positive knowledge. 

As a help to the understanding of the work of 
the Spirit and as an aid in learning how to 
cooperate with Him the following chapters are 
written. 


II 


What Has the Holy Spirit Done for Chris- 
tian Life and Work in the Past? 

T HE statement in the previous chapter of the 
importance of this theme may not seem 
obvious to every reader. A statement of 
facts is more convincing than that of principles, 
therefore appeal is here made to the life of the 
Christian church. Nothing can be more convincing. 
If the actual influence of the Holy Spirit has been 
inconsiderable during the past nineteen centuries, 
prolonged study of truths concerning Him is not 
very important. If His influence has been an es- 
sential part of the power for good which has been 
in the Christian church, then measureless loss 
must come from disregard of Him and His 
methods. 

The history of the church has marvelous features. 
At the outset it consisted of a small group of men. 
Under most untoward circumstances they began a 
movement for which there was no reason, so far 
as external conditions were concerned, to expect 
anything but a speedy and complete failure. In 
three centuries that church had become a power 
which the Roman empire desired as an ally for 
19 


20 


THE SUPREME NEED 


the simple reason that during two hundred and 
fifty years the empire had tried to extirpate it and 
had utterly failed. 

To state the facts in other words, the Christian 
church, consisting of a few Galilean peasants, was 
flung into the arena with but two resources for 
carrying on a struggle against the government of 
the Roman empire and all its power, against the 
learning and culture of all the civilized world, 
against the race prejudices of Jews, Greeks, and Ro- 
mans. Its two resources were, first, the truth of 
the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, and secondly 
the Holy Spirit as the Helper who should enable 
them effectively to utter the truth, who should guide 
them in their work, who should convince hearers 
of the truth, and work with transforming power in 
the hearts of men. 

How much has been done by the Holy Spirit as 
a Helper? The book of the Acts of the Apostles 
is the first witness on the subject. “ Underline in 
the book of Acts all the references to the Holy 
Spirit and watch the result/’ The result will be an 
explanation of the history of the Christian church. 
In fact but for such an authoritative clue to the in- 
terpretation of Christian history it is doubtful if 
we should be able to have very sure knowledge of 
the subject. 

An adequate answer to the question at the head 
of this chapter would fill a bulky work. A con- 
siderable space would be given to His work with 


WHAT HAS THE HOLY SPIRIT DONE? SI 


individual lives. The chief attention would be 
given to the general movements in the history of 
the church, during the first three centuries, the mis- 
sionary movements reaching out into Western, 
Central and Northern Europe; the Reformation of 
the sixteenth century, the Methodist movement of 
the eighteenth century, the missionary revival of 
the nineteenth century and the great stirrings in 
human life during the generation which has not yet 
passed. We shall not attempt to do more than to 
indicate some of the outstanding features of the 
work of the Holy Spirit during the earlier Chris- 
tian centuries. 

The good news of the resurrection of Jesus 
Christ and the meaning of the event was preached 
by men who had received the promise of the Spirit. 
Because they had received a fulfilment of this 
promise they were able to proclaim the truth with 
power. The Spirit continued with the church from 
the day of Pentecost, leading, restraining, illumi- 
nating, strengthening, bestowing the gifts which 
enabled the church to meet Roman arrogance and 
power, whether of the law or sword, Greek pride 
of philosophy, Jewish hatred of a gospel for all 
men, and heathen hostility to the church’s claim to 
present a religion which alone had authority. In- 
deed the gifts of the Spirit were the church’s sole 
support in maintaining its existence and extending 
its sway. The power of the Spirit was that which 
enabled the church to match itself against Roman 


22 THE SUPREME NEED 

power, both of law and sword, and to win in the 
contest. 

Without the Spirit the church could not have 
made good its claim to possess the supreme and 
universal religion. 

It was because of the effectual presence of the 
Spirit that the cross was transformed from a sym- 
bol of execration and infamy to the symbol of 
whatever is noble, inspiring, uplifting, beautifying 
and beneficent in human life. Since then, all 
through the ages it has been the means of showing 
with vividness the beauty as well as the reality of 
the divine love. Where has the worship of beauty 
or any speculative morality ever shown such power 
as that of the cross given it by the Spirit? 

Without the Spirit the hearts of the early Chris- 
tians could not have been filled with a love which 
broke down the barriers due to prejudices of race, 
rank and culture and which astonished the world. 
“ See, they [non-christians] say, how they [the 
Christians] love one another, — how they are ready 
even to die for one another.” (Tertul. Apol. 39). 
Men may smother the manifestation of antipathy 
for a great variety of prudential or selfish reasons. 
Men do not subdue inbred antipathies of any sort, 
and substitute love in their place without power 
from above. These Christians loved the men for 
whom Christ had died, and who in consquence had 
come into the fellowship of Christ. 

Their love was not restricted merely to their fel- 


WHAT HAS THE HOLY SPIRIT DONE? 23 


low Christians, but it reached out broadly for all 
men, because Christ had died for all. The blessings 
of salvation which they received they wished to 
share with all men, for in Jesus Christ “ there can- 
not be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircum- 
cision, barbarian, Scythian, bondman, freeman: but 
Christ is all, and in all.” (Col. iii. n). 

On this basis woman was raised to a plane of 
equality with man. Reverence for humanity as 
such became manifest in the treatment of children, 
of the very poor, of slaves and of those in prison. 

Even farther was the reach of this love for men. 
The sense of human brotherhood and faith in the 
Holy Spirit was very evident from the welcome 
given to the lowest and vilest. The Spirit justified 
this faith. He made purity one of the glories of the 
Christian life. The impurity of the Greek and 
Roman world is not to be described. Out of this 
impurity and away from it the church attracted 
many souls to its own purity, which was mani- 
fested both in the marriage state and out of it. The 
genuineness of this purity was proved by the joy 
it gave, even as formerly there had been pleasure 
in impurity. The vilest were transformed into a 
recognizable likeness to Christ. The dishonest 
slave received power to become the honest Christian 
servant, serving his earthly master faithfully in 
order to please his heavenly Master. Thus was 
shown the power of regeneration and the sanctify- 
ing agency of the Holy Spirit. 


u 


THE SUPREME NEED 


Of course the Spirit used those motives to which 
the man was susceptible, and brought to bear all 
the ordinary agencies for sanctifying character. 
Such motives came from the Christian idea of God 
who could not be pleased without holiness in living, 
also from the moral teachings of Jesus who had 
given his life in obedience to the will of the 
Father, and from the future life and judgment 
guaranteed by the resurrection of Jesus. The mo- 
tives that were more directly convincing came from 
the life of Christians. Their love, their pure lives 
were made attractive by the Spirit. Thus he gave 
them power “ in their patience, the steadfastness of 
their prayers, spirituality of their worship, their 
virtuous conversation, their victorious crusade 
against the fleshly lusts that war against the soul, 
and their humility withal and their charity.” (Edg- 
hill, p. 72). All these were due to the power of 
the Spirit, “ to the Christ reincarnate in their 
hearts.” 

Not only did the Spirit endue the church with the 
attractiveness of love and of purity, but He made 
the sufferings of the churches a vehicle for the per- 
suasive power of the Spirit. The power to endure 
suffering and to rise victorious over it was perhaps 
the most effective means for persuading men. It 
certainly was the most spectacular. 

Their sufferings and tribulations, persecutions 
and distresses had been foretold by Jesus. His 
promise of reward for giving up family, home and 


WHAT HAS THE HOLY SPIRIT DONE? 25 

possessions was coupled with an assurance of per- 
secutions. He gave his disciples directions for 
their conduct when persecuted, and when on trial 
for their lives. Such experiences were to be proofs 
that they were genuine disciples. The New Testa- 
ment shows that the apostles expected persecution 
and counted it an honor. Speedily it became mani- 
fest that a power not resident in human nature 
enabled them to endure these tests. 

Persecution came first from the Jews. The 
recognition that Jesus was Messiah divided fam- 
ilies. When the first Christians testified to his Mes- 
siahship and urged his acceptance as such they an- 
gered the Jews who had rejected Him. Then as 
Christianity became more aggressive it raised up 
bitter antagonism which only a Divine Spirit could 
give power to overcome. 

Persecution came from the Roman state. The 
state might overlook a non-aggressive Christianity. 
The headship of the state and of its emperor was 
a religious headship as well as a civil one. The 
state demanded worship of the emperor. This was 
an idolatrous headship. The early Christians con- 
formed to the civil headship. They refused to 
yield the required religious homage to the emperor 
as head of the state. Their religion was new and 
unauthorized by law. It claimed supreme religious 
authority. They were accordingly pronounced to 
be disloyal and rebellious and therefore criminal. 
They did not remain merely disobedient to the re- 


26 THE SUPREME NEED 

quirements of Rome’s imperialism. They defied 
the might of the empire by the authority of their 
God, their Master. A Divine Spirit empowered 
them. 

The sufferings of the Christians tested their con- 
victions. Opinions lightly formed would have 
quickly vanished. The supremacy of conscience 
was felt more and more. The sense of fellowship 
in suffering with one another and for the Divine 
Master became more fresh and living. Thus the 
sympathies of Christians with one another reached 
out more and more broadly. The persistent pres- 
sure of the empire deepened the brotherly con- 
sciousness of Christians into something like a cor- 
porate consciousness. This even developed into a 
kind of political consciousness that made some sort 
of general organization inevitable. 

The Christians came to realize the need of at- 
tempting with set purpose to substitute a new moral 
order in the place of the order then prevalent. The 
churches therefore began an attempt not merely to 
transform the lives of individual men, to make them 
a fresh revelation of Christ, but also to establish 
the divine order on earth. 

The sufferings of the Christians produced unex- 
pected results for the pagans. Christ was revealed 
to them. The Spirit did His office work. He 
convinced the onlookers of the reality of a type of 
life they had not before seen, of the presence of 
a power which they had not known, and could not 


WHAT HAS THE HOLY SPIRIT DONE? Tl 

understand. The sufferings of the Christians caused 
pity or admiration, and opened numberless hearts 
to the beauty of the misunderstood Christian lives. 
These lives and their endurance of persecutions 
convinced pagan onlookers that the Christian re- 
ligion really had supreme value. The heart of man 
answered to the heart of man. The devotion of the 
Christians was inspired by that love which led 
Jesus through Gethsemane to Calvary. Their de- 
votion often shared his suffering and in conse- 
quence shared also in the transforming power of 
his love. In fact it interpreted to men that love 
of Jesus and attracted them to him. Thus was 
the power of the Holy Spirit signally manifested. 

It is true that persecution had periods of cessa- 
tion. In consequence of these came periods of out- 
ward prosperity of the church, and unfortunately 
also decadence of spiritual life. For only maturity 
of spiritual character or intense love for the Master 
who grants success can maintain the ardor of de- 
votion to him. Selfishness, forgetfulness of the 
Master, neglect of the Spirit, are apt to follow out- 
ward success, and cause a deterioration of char- 
acter, while moral superiority and spiritual privi- 
lege are still claimed. It is not strange that pagan 
jealousy should flame up at the sight of Christians 
whose life had become little better than that of 
their neighbors. Thus decadence brought another 
period of testing. There is a striking parallel be- 
tween the history of the church and the sketch of 


28 THE SUPREME NEED 

the history of Israel given in the second chapter 
of Judges. 

Within less than three hundred years after the 
resurrection of Jesus and the day of Pentecost the 
little church had become a power which the em- 
peror desired to win to friendship. Long before 
that time the enemies of the Gospel had come to 
feel the presence of a strange power and to dread it. 

The friendship of the emperor changed the tasks 
of the church, but did not diminish them. If the 
church accomplished anything toward christianizing 
the organism of the imperial government, this was 
due to the Spirit’s presence. 

At the same time there was laid upon the church 
the task of winning pagan Europe for Christ. By 
1500 a.d. pioneer work had so far progressed that 
nearly all Europe was called Christian. The name 
of Christ or of His church was supreme. The 
Holy Spirit had strengthened Saints Columba, 
Columbanus, Boniface, Ansgar and numberless oth- 
ers for their rude tasks. He worked with persua- 
sion on the hearts of the pagan nations of Europe 
and led them to call Christ their Lord. 

The sixteenth century witnessed the flaming of a 
passion for righteousness and for a sense of the 
forgiveness of sins. For this result the Holy Spirit 
had been moving on the hearts of men for gener- 
ations. Protestantism took its position as the ad- 
vanced part of the church universal. Roman 
Catholicism was moved to reform many of its 


WHAT HAS THE HOLY SPIRIT DONE? 29 


ways, and to begin its missionary activities. In 
both parts of the church the Holy Spirit was the 
moving power. The next two centuries were a 
period of the deepening of religious life in one part 
or another of the church universal. Toward their 
close Protestant churches were moved toward mis- 
sionary activity. And thus the nineteenth century 
became one of rich missionary activity. 

In the whole course of the history of the Chris- 
tian church and especially in the later centuries has 
the Spirit given believers and the churches power 
to be loyal to righteousness and to evangelical 
ideals, power to challenge the right and might of 
worldliness, power to affirm and partly to convince 
men that righteousness should be supreme in all 
human affairs. Thus have the Christian forces 
been mighty as a conscience demanding individual 
morality and national conformity to the same law 
of righteousness. 

What is yet to be expected of the Holy Spirit? 
He is to lead into the fulness of the Christian life. 
(Eph. iv. 13-16). He is to christianize society. 
He is to lead nations to observe the law of love. 


Ill 

Neglect of the Spirit and Absence of Power 

W HEN the great successes of the church of 
Christ are considered, some questions 
occur to the mind: Why has the church 
not accomplished yet more? Why are not all the 
peoples of the earth already Christian? Was this 
a task too great for the Spirit? Or again, is the 
Spirit capricious in His exercise of power? Or, 
are His ways so mysterious that it is impossible 
to count on any aid from Him? Or, may it be 
after all that He has ways which men must learn 
and to which they must conform as they conform 
to physical law? If so, why should not disregard 
of His ways be disastrous in the spiritual life, as is 
disregard of physical law in the physical life? Or, 
why should ignorant or blundering attempts to co- 
operate with Him be more successful than such at- 
tempts are in the physical world? If these ques- 
tions point to the reason of failures in the work of 
the church, why is it that Christians or the church 
have disregarded the ways of the Spirit, and why 
have any failed to learn of those ways? 

If Christians have neglected to follow the ways 
30 


NEGLECT OF THE SPIRIT 


31 


of the Spirit, has it been because they did not be- 
lieve in Him? Have they denied the necessity of 
His aid in the life and work of the church? No, 
not in theory. They affirm the necessity of His 
presence. 

Have they habitually sought His aid as the sole 
power by which the church could hope to accom- 
plish proper results? Have they sought to know 
the conditions on which the Spirit should give them 
the power needed? These two questions indicate 
the reasons of the withholding of power from the 
churches and from individual Christians. 

Whenever men have forgotten that the religious 
life itself is of supreme value, they have ignored 
the meaning and presence of the Holy Spirit. 
Whenever Christian life and service have been 
given a second place in a man’s life, then he has 
refused to yield his life to the guidance of the 
Spirit. He has practically denied that the Spirit is 
the transforming power in the world for its re- 
demption. 

Whenever a man has failed to find his religion 
in seeking fellowship with God, and substituted 
moral conduct in its place, he has neglected the 
Spirit as his Guide. Morality is properly a fruit 
of religion. This is so inevitable that its absence 
proves the religion defective. Whenever a man has 
treated a result of religion as though it were the 
power which causes the result, he has broken the 
direct connection with the Spirit of God. He has 


32 THE SUPREME NEED 

also disqualified himself for receiving the Spirit of 
power. 

Has a man made his religion to consist in wor- 
ship? This is an expression of religion. The 
verdure of a tree is an expression of its life. It 
is also a means of growth. Thus with religion and 
worship. Without worship religion cannot come to 
maturity. When, however, religion means worship 
instead of life which compels worship the Spirit 
finds no inner life for its fellowship and use. Hence 
the man cannot be a vehicle of power. 

Again, correct conceptions of the truths of re- 
ligion have been treated as though they were the 
essence of the Christian religion. How can cor- 
rect views be obtained? In preaching to the un- 
converted we attempt to illustrate the meaning of 
fellowship with God by our human fellowships. 
Further, the beginning of this fellowship involves 
the deliverance of the human soul from sin. This 
deliverance also can be illustrated from a great 
variety of human experiences. Can a man under- 
stand the deliverance from sin and the fellowship 
with God without an actual experience? Can he 
then have correct conceptions of the truths of the 
Christian religion without the life? How again 
can it be right to treat something dependent upon 
the life as the life itself? If the man centers his 
religious activities in the ideas about the life in- 
stead of in the life, how can the Spirit use him as 
a means for transforming the lives of others? 


NEGLECT OF THE SPIRIT 


33 


Such failures in the life of the individual Chris- 
tian have appeared on a larger scale in a church 
and crippled its efficiency. Sometimes they have 
even caused the activities of a church to cease en- 
tirely. When a church has forgotten that its mis- 
sion as a body of Christ is to carry on His re- 
demptive work in the world, it has ignored the 
Spirit and become indifferent to His moving. 

A church has sometimes centered attention on 
outward conduct and discipline. This has made the 
religious life mechanical. Thus the church has lost 
the guidance of the Spirit, and developed unspirit- 
ual systems of penance and even of indulgences. 

A church sometimes has come to think so much 
of worship and the modes of worship, that it has 
failed to share Jesus’ love of men who need to be 
redeemed. Thus that church came to prize this one 
of the manifestations of Christian life as though 
it were the sole manifestation, or that for which all 
others exist. Until it opens itself to the great pas- 
sion of Jesus Christ it alienates itself from the 
ways of the Spirit. Hence at times even a large 
portion of the church of Christ has ceased to be 
filled with the power of the Spirit because it did not 
put first things first. 

The church has sometimes overestimated the 
relative value of correct statement of the truths of 
the Christian life. When this was put in the place 
of the life itself it involved a radical falsehood. It 
should never be forgotten that a life that is thor- 


THE SUPREME NEED 


34 * 

oughly loyal to our Lord is the best corrective of 
error in intellectual operations. The logic of Chris- 
tian experience will correct error in a mind seeking 
to be led by the Spirit of Truth far better than the 
logic of dialectic, no matter how correct in form. 
When the church has been diverted from the main 
issue of life to the secondary question of concep- 
tions of truth, it has put itself outside the direct 
purpose of the Holy Spirit and has not been used. 
Where controversy about doctrine prevails spiritual 
life languishes. 

Another failure to receive the power of the 
Spirit has come from a lack of faith in the Spirit. 
The church has accepted non-spiritual auxiliaries to 
help secure those visible results which attend the 
Christian life. This appears wherever the church 
has permitted a power other than the Holy Spirit 
to direct its policy. A conspicuous illustration was 
when the church sought the aid of the Constan- 
tinopolitan emperors and deferred to their will re- 
specting doctrine and management of church af- 
fairs. These emperors did not appreciate or know 
the meaning of the guidance of the Holy Spirit, 
else they would not have retained for more than 
fifty years the title of Pontifex Maximus. The 
very constitution of the imperial government was 
too thoroughly pagan to be qualified to share the 
guidance of a Christian society. “ Centuries of 
pagan civilization, traditions of national greatness, 
recollections of imperial religion made it impossible 


NEGLECT OF THE SPIRIT 


35 


for the new faith to master public and political life 
with any effective authority. The incurable pagan- 
ism of the empire proved the insurmountable dif- 
ficulty of the church.” (Edghill, p. 190). When 
the church entered into partnership with this body, 
it compromised its independence and failed to main- 
tain a fully spiritual character, hence pagan, i.e. 
unspiritual, ideals and methods found a place in 
the thought and work of the church. Too often 
Christian churches became contented with attain- 
ing outward prosperity and success in place of the 
spiritual power which should have been their pas- 
sion. 

Still another form of lack of faith in the Holy 
Spirit was a failure to heed the principle stated by 
Jesus to render unto Caesar the things that are 
Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s. 
(Mt. xxii. 21). In truth, the error noted just 
above was rendering homage to Caesar in things 
spiritual, homage which should have been rendered 
to God alone. The new error was the failure to 
believe that the Spirit could and would lead the 
civil government to act in the interest of the king- 
dom of God. Therefore the church leaders sought 
to obtain control of Caesar’s power. They refused 
to render unto Caesar the things that were Caesar’s. 

The ideal of a state conformed to the will of 
God is a noble one. It should be the inspiration of 
those men who in the providence of God serve Him 
in civic affairs. The church is not called upon to 


36 


THE SUPREME NEED 


take the sword of the magistrate out of his hands, 
or to dictate to him the acts he shall perform 
with it. 

The mission of the church is to represent the 
kingdom of God in its highest aspect. It must be 
loyal to the confession of Jesus before Pilate, “ My 
kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were 
of this world, then would my servants fight, that I 
should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my 
kingdom not from hence.” (Jo. xviii. 36). The 
spiritual power of the church has been greatest 
when it has shown fullest loyalty to the spirit and 
letter of these two utterances of Jesus. 

When the church ventured to use other means 
than spiritual ones, as it must whenever it seeks 
to gain control in the domain of Caesar, then it 
gave up its dependence upon the Spirit for power, 
and it lost in moral influence over the world. 

Whenever the church has taken the leadership of 
its policy and activities from sources other than the 
Spirit of God, it has forfeited its right to look for 
aid from a divine power. It has occasioned the 
belief that it had no access to such power. More 
than that, the belief has arisen that such power 
never had been with the church, and never would 
be. The church’s claims were not believed because 
nothing then present in history seemed to justify 
them. 

When the church has put the fruits of religion 
in place of the religious life itself, it has uttered an 


NEGLECT OF THE SPIRIT 37 

uncertain sound about the essential facts of the 
Christian life. 

Attempts to enforce assent to particular state- 
ments of truth have caused degeneration into an 
unspiritual holding of truth and have made divi- 
sions. Attempts to enforce outward unity have 
caused forgetfulness of the Spirit and have pro- 
duced schisms. Whether by lack of faith in the 
Holy Spirit, or by unspiritual conceptions of re- 
ligion, individual Christians and churches have 
failed to enter into the fulness of their privilege in 
establishing the kingdom of God. 

Thus the reason why the world is not now more 
fully Christian must be attributed to the fact that 
however glorious a career the church of Christ has 
had, it has fallen short of its rights by reason of 
lack of faith and lack of loyalty to the Spirit. 


IV 


Necessity of the Spirit for Effective Service 

W HEN we reflect upon the facts of Chris- 
tian history we recall with amazement 
the fact that at the outset the church was 
composed of a few weak and despised disciples. 
Our amazement does not diminish as we follow the 
story of the first Christian centuries. We need 
often to recur to these facts when effectiveness in 
Christian service seems to have ceased in our im- 
mediate environment. The lesson taught by those 
facts will have little value if we so dwell on the 
activity of the Holy Spirit in those remote centuries 
as to lose sight of what He is doing in our own gen- 
eration. He often changes His methods. 

“ The old order changeth, yielding place to new, 

And God fulfills himself in many ways, 

Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.” 

(Tennyson, Passing of Arthur). 

It is saddening to see men clinging to old methods 
through which the Spirit once worked and striving 
to fill forms with life after men have ceased to re- 
spond to them. Any man who has lived fifty years 
with eyes open to the Spirit’s operations can name 
38 


NECESSITY OF THE SPIRIT 


39 


modes or points of approach to men previously 
unused by which the Spirit is now reaching the 
hearts of men. The wonder grows that, when 
men’s hearts have become insensitive to certain 
truths, and the heart of the Christian worker be- 
comes wearied and distrustful of the power of the 
Gospel, the Spirit should adopt an unexpected 
avenue of successful approach to the soul. Though 
men do not respond now as they sometimes have to 
the preaching of sin and the consequent need of re- 
demption, nevertheless the Spirit is surely leading 
men into the kingdom. Perhaps in the next genera- 
tion we shall again see men responsive to the preach- 
ing of these great Biblical truths. This generation 
is moving more largely along the lines of Chris- 
tian education, philanthropic service and care for 
the physical well being of men. We may need to 
alternate activities. The conviction which we 
should cultivate is that all good work for men is 
due to the stirrings of the Spirit : and a conviction 
yet more important is that no good work, least of 
all the best work, can be done without His guid- 
ance. 

Does an earnest disciple of Jesus believe that his 
passionate loyalty to the Master and his longing 
to do the things that shall please his Master are a 
sufficient spiritual qualification for successful serv- 
ice? We cannot doubt that these qualifications 
were present with certain early disciples when they 
were charged “ not to depart from Jerusalem, but 


40 


THE SUPREME NEED 


to wait the promise of the Father, which ye heard 
from me.” Evidently something else was needed. 
They needed power to be witnesses of Jesus, and 
this power was to be theirs when the Holy Spirit 
should have come upon them. They needed to re- 
ceive the promise of the Father (Joel ii. 28f.), and 
also the gift foretold by John (Mt. iii. n, Mark 
i. 8, Luke iii. 16) which in various ways and at 
various times had been pledged to them. 

Each day of waiting might well have led the men 
who were waiting, to see more and more plainly 
their unfitness to be the witnesses of Jesus. If they 
were to announce the truth, did they not need to 
have uncommon insight into it? And into the 
moods and passions of men? And understanding 
of the most effective modes of public utterance? 
And the fullest understanding of the Old Testa- 
ment Scriptures in order to cope with the rabbis 
whom they must meet? These disciples were in a 
city where Jesus had recently been done to death, 
and where pride and prejudice were such mighty 
passions that Jesus himself had failed to overcome 
them. Then, too, they needed an unflinching cour- 
age, steady and aggressive, which could face any 
opposition. All these were things which the twelve 
did not have by nature nor by training. 

The next ten days were filled with prayer, and 
on Pentecost came an experience which gave cour- 
age and effectiveness to the twelve, and which was 
a surpassing marvel to the spectators. Such cour- 


NECESSITY OF THE SPIRIT 


41 


age and effectiveness came later to Peter (Acts v. 
3, 4, 8, 9, viii. 20-23), an d to Paul (Acts xiii. 
9-1 1 ). Essential repetitions of their experience 
through the ages have been evidence of the con- 
tinued presence of the same power with Christian 
disciples making their service efficient. In more 
recent times the lives of Wesley, Finney and Moody 
have illustrated the same need and help. Their 
great effectiveness was due to a power not native 
to themselves, nor was it merely a development 
brought about by the exercise of the so-called nat- 
ural powers. It was a gift of power, it was an in- 
dwelling fulness of God manifesting itself in power. 
It was conditioned on faith and docility. It de- 
veloped capacities to receive and exercise power, 
and brought to pass enriched living and fruitful 
working. 

In all ages the greatest workers have felt the 
need of this power. Indeed the exercise of such 
power is thought by some to be the one mode in 
which the baptism of the Spirit may come, or to be 
the one mode in which power in witnessing for 
Christ can be manifested. These instances are not 
the most common, though they are very conspicuous 
and serve to make the reality of the gifts of the 
Holy Spirit and His power evident, when His less 
conspicuous operations might be ignored or mis- 
construed. 

The qualifications needed by those early disciples 
are needed by all Christians in order to attain full 


42 


THE SUPREME NEED 


efficiency in service. Never have the disciples of 
Jesus been able to dispense with the Spirit’s aid. 
Never yet have Christian workers had sufficient in- 
sight, understanding, wisdom and courage of them- 
selves to accomplish the work which belongs to the 
Christian church. The more perfectly a man appre- 
ciates the greatness and nature of his work the 
more certain is he that he is not of himself suffi- 
cient for it. The man with a low view of sin, and 
with a corresponding ethical emptying of God’s 
character, may feel competent for his tasks. Not 
so with a man who has a measurable conception 
of the character of God and who consequently 
knows sin for what it is. Without power the Chris- 
tian has no commission, no message, no authority 
to appear before the world. 

The worker needs to cultivate the conviction that 
whether or not he can understand the reason in the 
operations of the Spirit, or the operations them- 
selves, His presence and power are indispensable. 
Some reasons we may understand. The need of 
His presence and power is fundamental and perma- 
nent because it is grounded in the very constitution 
of human nature. In the creation and constitution 
of man God made him so that it is normal for man 
to feel good and holy impulses from God, to re- 
spond to these impulses and to live in constant fel- 
lowship with God. With many men, however, it 
has become second nature to ignore such influences 
or to refuse to respond to them, so that they know 


NECESSITY OF THE SPIRIT 


43 


nothing of this participation in the divine nature. 
The loyal disciple of Christ wishes to lead men 
into this fellowship possible for them, and thus lead 
them to act according to their normal nature, in- 
stead of their second nature. How shall he lead 
men to change the very center of their personal 
life? Only the God who created man can guide 
to success, for He alone knows the hearts of men. 
This is what is meant when it is said that the need 
of the presence of the Holy Spirit is grounded in 
the very constitution of man. Such a need is uni- 
versal, for it is present in the case of every man, 
and it belongs to all times in the history of the race. 

Accordingly the Christian believer needs to culti- 
vate as a constant element of his religious con- 
sciousness the background of conviction, more or 
less definite, that the Holy Spirit is a Cosmic Spirit, 
present in all human life; that He is a Redemptive 
Spirit, active in restoring human life to its normal 
state, and in enabling men to work effectively for 
this restoration; yet more, he should have the con- 
viction that, unless the Spirit’s redemptive activity 
accompanies the Christian worker’s efforts, his 
labor is in vain. These convictions are necessary 
for effective spiritual service. The successful 
worker is aware of his entire dependence upon the 
Holy Spirit. This is a noteworthy feature of all 
successful evangelists. Moody and Gipsy Smith 
are alike representative men in this respect. 

Whoever would win men into the Christian life, 


THE SUPREME NEED 


44 

or into the fulness of Christian privilege must gain 
the “ will to believe.” Preaching, whether brilliant, 
eloquent, instructive; social qualities- ever so win- 
ning; learning — in short, anything that a minister 
may desire and ought to seek, will fail to be an 
equivalent for the help of the Holy Spirit in gain- 
ing the will to believe. If He is present He will 
make all these equipments serve the purpose for 
which they are adapted. The minister, the Sunday 
school teacher, the Christian worker of whatever 
sort, should accept the fact that the work of con- 
vincing men of sin, righteousness and judgment to 
come is only another phrase for securing the will 
to believe, and that this work is the office of the 
Holy Spirit, not that of man. 

The will not to believe is so constant a factor in 
the heart of man that not only more than human 
wisdom, but also more than human power is needed 
to overcome it. The divine power is needed to 
convince a hearer that a speaker’s words are words 
of sincerity and genuine knowledge. In the stress 
of a political campaign the overbearing will of one 
man may carry with it the wills of other men so 
that they will vote with him, even though they may 
not believe with him. Thus may a preacher win 
the will to join his church without the inner assent 
to the requirements of the Christian life and serv- 
ice. It needs no argument to prove that this adds 
nothing to the spiritual power or life of the church. 

What is needed is that the Spirit produce in the 


45 


NECESSITY OF THE SPIRIT 

mind of the hearer, through the agency employed, 
a clear perception of the reality and of the im- 
portance of the result toward which the speaker’s 
words tend, and that this perception be followed by 
so keen a sense of the obligation to act accordingly 
that the hearer will actually put to the test the 
reality of the truth of which his intellect is formally 
convinced. For the words of a preacher may be 
felt to be true, yet fail to secure their full accept- 
ance as the basis of conduct. The preacher’s words 
are brought home to the conscience of hearers by 
the exemplification of the truth in the lives of 
others. The appeal to conscience at this point is 
the office of the Holy Spirit. But more than this 
is needed. A divine worker on the will is requisite. 
It is He that secures the will to believe which has 
been so persistently withholden. 

This convincing operation of the Holy Spirit 
may be so undervalued by the Christian worker 
that he will not pray for it, and so he will not have 
its presence with him in his work. He may be so 
filled with overestimation of the power of the in- 
struments which the Spirit customarily uses that 
he will become insensible to the need of the power 
which is essential to his success. Failure is in- 
evitable. Instruments, agencies, machinery and 
persons all combined are insufficient to give sta- 
bility to religious work. This comes only from the 
constant presence of the Spirit whose power is the 
primary and essential condition of all effectiveness. 


46 


THE SUPREME NEED 


It should be remembered that the securing of 
conversions is not the only thing for which Chris- 
tians should labor. When their words and life 
help each other to secure a higher type of Chris- 
tian life, the Spirit is present with them and with 
convincing power. Absence of conversions is no 
proof of the absence of the Spirit. Moreover, im- 
mediateness of results is not to be the measure of 
His presence with Christian workers. The faith 
of missionaries and ministers through even decades 
of apparently fruitless labor has sometimes been 
used by the Spirit as the most effective means of 
producing the will to believe. 

There is no Christian service worthy the name 
without the Spirit. Theology, philosophy, knowl- 
edge, teaching, organization, ceremonial worship, 
words, profession, all these by themselves are ineffi- 
cient — they are but dry bones. It is the Holy Spirit 
who makes them religiously operative. From Him 
alone is there life in service. Without His presence 
man has no qualification for work. 

Jesus himself did not enter upon His ministry 
until the gift had come at His baptism. The dis- 
ciples were not to begin work until He should have 
come. Then was there a sealing of the Spirit — a 
setting apart for God’s own possession; then came 
the fulness of the Spirit, giving power in place of 
weakness; then was there an anointing of the Spirit, 
opening the eyes of the understanding, and giving 
discernment. By all these, the disciples came into 


NECESSITY OF THE SPIRIT 47 

“ contact with the inner movements of divine 
power.” 

It is for these reasons that the Christian worker 
should cultivate the conviction that the especial 
presence of the Holy Spirit is essential for effective 
work, and he should also form the habit of depend- 
ing upon the Holy Spirit and of not attempting 
any work without a sense of such dependence. 
More than this, he should constantly seek to obey 
the command, “ Be ye filled with the Spirit.” This 
is a duty, it is not a counsel of perfection, failure 
to comply with which would not mar his Christian 
life. It is possible for all. It will be adapted to 
the circumstances and duties of each. Obedience 
to it will enable every one to find just his duty and 
to have all needed efficiency in the accomplishment 
of that duty. 

He that seeks and gains the fulness of the Spirit 
finds the highest plane of his life. He begins a 
“ steadfast and lifelong accumulation of habits that 
will be at home in heaven.” “ Some phases may be 
long delayed, some may never come in this life.” 
Heaven would not be heaven if it had no promise of 
something beyond what this life can give. Nothing 
can be more certain than this : he who perseveringly 
seeks to be filled with the Spirit, is steadily con- 
forming to the conditions of the highest effective- 
ness in this life, and is constantly developing in his 
qualifications for citizenship in the heavenly com- 
monwealth. 


V 


Necessity of the Holy Spirit for Living a 
Christian Life 

T HE beginning of a man’s need of the Holy 
Spirit is not when he takes up great tasks 
for the kingdom of God. His need of the 
Holy Spirit began with the beginnings of the spirit- 
ual life. If he was to perform some great task he 
needed the Spirit’s redemptive work in his heart 
and life. He needed also inspiration, illumination 
and guidance during a period of preparation before 
he should attempt any great task. All this prepara- 
tion would naturally come for the most part through 
the ordinary, even commonplace, duties of the 
Christian life. 

The original witnesses for Jesus were chosen by 
him for their office. He trained them for their 
service. He required their loyalty to himself, and 
during months or years they steadily responded 
with the desired loyalty, a loyalty essentially the 
same as that now given by Christians. Pentecost 
needed a fit preparation. It had been made by the 
months of uneventful association with Jesus. Paul’s 
great work was preceded by three years in Arabia 
and also by several years of obscurity in Tarsus. 
4a 


NECESSITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 49 


In general, the great servants of God have had years 
of the ripening influence of inconspicuous Christian 
living before coming to their great opportunity. 
This was due to the weakness of undisciplined hu- 
man nature (I Ti. iii. 6, v. 22 ). Great service 
is based more upon disciplined character than on 
trained intellect. The Spirit is the indispensable 
Helper during the period of preparation fully as 
much as at the time of notable service. It is by 
the ordinary routine of the Christian life that He 
matures men for exalted work. It is through obe- 
dience to the requirements pf the commonplace 
that men are disciplined for great positions. It is 
by traversing the wide plains west of the Mississippi 
that men arrive at the heights of the Rocky Moun- 
tains. 

Thus is the Spirit essential for the development 
of that Christian life which is to render conspicu- 
ous service. Is His presence needless in the de- 
velopment of Christians who are not to be so con- 
spicuous? Can ordinary Christians dispense with 
His help in the development of their lives? Is it 
not possible that here we touch on a practical dis- 
belief in His necessity? When all Christians be- 
lieve that the Spirit is their indispensable Helper 
for Christian living will they not begin to conquer 
the world? Is not one of our great lacks a strong 
positive conviction on this point? 

We need a profound conviction that in every in- 
dividual life the presence of the Spirit should be 


50 


THE SUPREME NEED 


manifest. We need to believe Christian character 
has no growth without His operation. We need 
to seek Him constantly that Christian life may be 
maintained. The ordinary Christian needs Him for 
the reality and fulness of the Christian life as much 
as the great preacher or religious leader. Without 
Him is no life (Ro. viii. 4, 5, 9); with the Spirit 
there is fulness of life (Ro. viii. 6; xiv. 17; xv. 
13) through the subduing of the fleshly life. Yet 
believers often lose sight of these truths. 

Is it not the mind of Jesus that the Christian life 
shall be a life of fellowship with the Father? With- 
out the Holy Spirit a man does not enter this fel- 
lowship. The Holy Spirit who was present in the 
beginning must continue in order that the fellow- 
ship be maintained, developed, enriched and fructi- 
fied. Any other thought is absurd (Gal. iii. 3). 
Without His agency it would not have begun, with- 
out His constant mediation it would have ceased. 
All growth toward the full stature of the man in 
Jesus Christ is evidence that the Holy Spirit is 
present producing that growth, as well as maintain- 
ing the life by which alone growth is possible. 

Thus a man may enter the Christian life with 
true and proper self-surrender, an act in which the 
Spirit had a share. In the progress of that life 
subtle temptations may so mar the spirit of self- 
surrender that his Christian life will go astray. 
New gifts may come to him, new powers may de- 
velop within him. The self-surrender, the dedica- 


NECESSITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 51 

tion of the life, previous to the coming of the new 
gifts or powers will not suffice. Only the control- 
ling presence of the Holy Spirit will guard a man 
against the peril of omitting to dedicate every power 
or gift as soon as he gains it. Otherwise his Chris- 
tian life is diminished rather than maintained. 

Does a man think that if he is loyal to Jesus his 
Christian life will not fail? How is that loyalty 
to Jesus to continue undiminished? The Spirit was 
present in its beginning. He must continue with 
the Christian if it is not to die out. 

When a man realizes that godliness is profitable 
for all things, is he not open to the temptation to 
think of it also as a way of gain? Will his ruling 
idea then continue to be spiritual ? Is he not liable 
to lose sight of the duty to subject all things to the 
Spirit? Will he not drift into a bondage to the 
things of the world? Can he maintain his Chris- 
tian life except with the constant help of the 
Spirit ? 

Fellowship with the Father is the normal destiny 
of man. It is life. Sin — existence outside that fel- 
lowship — is death. When a man yields himself to 
the control of the Spirit he is in the way of life. 
When in the way of life a man is continually mas- 
tering his sins. The outcome of this continual mas- 
tering of sins will include full salvation hereafter. 
The hope and expectation is a great joy. Part of 
the salvation is the delivery from the worst conse- 
quences of sin. This normal result of the Christian 


52 


THE SUPREME NEED 


life is sometimes thought of as the chief purpose 
of it. This has been the aim of some Christians. 
They may be on the right side of the line between 
the godly and the godless worlds, but they are too 
near that line for their religious character to be 
noteworthy. Theirs is a maimed religious life. 
Such religion at best is that of “ a moral man with 
religious motives rather than of a religious man 
with moral motives.” Only constant reliance upon 
the Spirit can guard against the peril of such a life. 

The ideal of Christian life demands that it be 
full and symmetrical. Such a life is the result of 
development. If the Holy Spirit’s presence and 
operations are necessary for the maintenance of 
Christian life, much more is He essential to the 
development of that life into symmetry. Without 
Him is no stability of Christian character. With- 
out Him can be no growth. Only as a Christian 
is “ strengthened with power through his Spirit in 
the inward man ” can he grow. This is too obvious 
to need amplification. 

It would be an error to suppose that the develop- 
ment of an individual Christian life is a complete 
end in itself. The individual life requires for its 
perfection right relation to the lives of other men 
as well as right relation to God. Paul’s afflictions 
and blessings and divine comfort were alike a 
means for imparting blessing to the Corinthians 
(2 Co. i. 4-6). A life in the fellowship of God 
cannot but be a life of service — whatever the form 


NECESSITY OP THE HOLY SPIRIT 53 


of the service. The more symmetrical and mature 
the Christian life, the more perfect the service. 
The mere existence of such a life is service. Its 
presence proclaims the nature of religion. The 
reality of religion is made manifest to hearts that 
will believe no words. The great service of Chris- 
tian living is witnessing for Christ. A life which 
fails to witness for Christ has no right to claim to 
be a Christian life. 

Let a stubborn unbeliever watch a common Chris- 
tian life sufficiently long to see that it is not in- 
sincere, he is constrained to acknowledge the pres- 
ence of a power outside his understanding. Thus 
an ordinary Christian life is a constant testimony 
to the power of Jesus to redeem a soul from sin 
and to enable a person to live the life of love. The 
life witnesses visibly to the same truth which an 
evangelist utters when he proclaims the Gospel. 
Does one say that the Gospel is self-evidencing and 
needs but to be spoken to make men see its truth? 
Is it not equally true that the world believes in 
human life more than in human words? Do not 
lives of persons miscalled Christians oftentimes 
serve as convincing arguments against the power 
of the Gospel? Also is not the life of a genuine 
Christian more convincing of the truth and power 
of the Gospel than any words can be? 

Human language is at best an imperfect instru- 
ment. Men are often far apart in the world of 
thought and feeling. Words of the spiritual life 


54 


THE SUPREME NEED 


do not mean the same things to them. When they 
speak to one another of their spiritual experiences 
they speak a language as strange as a foreign 
tongue. Their words are unintelligible to each 
other. 

Therefore the truths of the Gospel cannot be 
adequately stated in words apart from human lives. 
The witnessing in human conduct fails of full effi- 
ciency when it is self-conscious. The Gospel finds 
its proper expression when the man is free from 
self-consciousness. The consciousness of witness- 
ing by conduct makes it difficult for a man to avoid 
posing. Posing is destructive of sincerity. Lack 
of sincerity destroys value of life. The Holy 
Spirit is needed because He can free the soul from 
this danger of insincerity. 

A similar danger appears in the work of an 
evangelist. He loses his efficiency as a witness to 
the reality and power of the Gospel when he wit- 
nesses for the sake of witnessing. He poses. 
When, however, his witnessing is merely a means 
for bringing men into the fellowship of God, then 
the danger of posing passes. 

In the Christian life the Spirit guards against 
the peril by maintaining and developing the life of 
fellowship with the Father and the Son. His wit- 
ness to our Sonship, His kindling of aspiration, His 
guidance and His fruit in the life strengthen the 
life and promote its growth. The more vigorously 
Christian life is growing the less the peril of arti- 


NECESSITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 55 


ficiality. The nearer maturity it is, the less the 
danger of insincerity. 

It is of great importance to recognize this wit- 
nessing function of the life of the great body of 
Christians. If the value of this witnessing function 
be not fully recognized we shall underrate the im- 
portance of the Spirit’s presence in every individual 
life. Without His presence in the lives of all Chris- 
tians the words of the great witnesses for Christ 
have seriously diminished value. 

The Spirit speaks through a witness who seeks 
words which the Spirit teaches, who is obedient to 
Him and who relies on Him for strength, wisdom 
and confirmation. The Spirit speaks also through 
lives which are obedient to Him, for they express 
His mind. It is important that both kinds of wit- 
nesses remember that they are alike dependent upon 
Him and that each of them must be docile under 
His guidance. 

In both cases the absence of the Spirit, the fail- 
ure of His presence, the lack of dependence upon 
Him take effectiveness out of the service. What 
source of power is of more importance to a preacher 
than the Spirit in the lives of Christians confirming 
his words? 

The great need of our time — and of all time — is 
that the Spirit’s influence be accepted universally 
in the Christian church, and that all believers be 
as docile in response to His influence as the choicest 
souls now are. This requires a more profound 


56 


THE SUPREME NEED 


work in the heart of a man than that which stirs 
him to speak the words of life. 

In the light of such facts the question presents 
itself for every Christian: Shall my life, or my 
activity be steady and strong or irresolute, languid ? 
Shall it be constantly developing toward that Chris- 
tian character which is manifested in a strong and 
steady outflow of life? Such a life in every Chris- 
tian is essential for the conquest of the world. 
“ Such a life can be fed and fashioned only by a 
continuous indwelling of the Divine Spirit.” 


VI 


The Holy Spirit and the Desire for Things 
Better 

A PRIMARY element in the work of the 
Spirit for men is His moving in their 
hearts to reach after something better. As 
a result a man may strive for the perfection of 
something which is already in his life. The thing 
for which he longs may be present to his imagina- 
tion alone. The object of desire may be even less 
definite. It may not even be recognized, but be 
more like a captive bird’s impulse to fly even though 
it has never known what it is to stretch its wings. 

This stirring in the hearts of men which is due 
to the Spirit is an incessantly disquieting factor in 
life. Sometimes it moves to turbulence. A person 
is restless until he finds content in the proper ob- 
ject. The restlessness begins early. The child 
plays at the games of youth and the doings of man- 
hood. The youth dreams ideals of manhood and 
begins to get ready for them. The man must strug- 
gle after his own ideal, or remain discontented 
until he finds a worthy ideal which he may make 
the goal of his effort. A person with uncommon 
capacity for some type of activity, whether it be in 
57 


58 


THE SUPREME NEED 


intellectual, social, business or artistic pursuits, can- 
not but be restless. He must constantly feel about 
to find that for which his nature best adapts him. 

These restless flutterings of the soul are due to 
the moving of the Holy Spirit. Indeed they are 
normal in each human being. They are necessary 
in order that a man should find the thing which 
shall content the constitutional cravings of his soul. 
The Spirit, Cosmic in His brooding over the hu- 
manity which He constituted, arouses the capacities 
with which He endowed a man to seek their normal 
development. When the capacity is a pronounced 
one, when the soul does not become morbid in its 
restlessness, the sight of the proper object of the 
capacity is often a recognition of the proper life of 
the soul. Thus by following the impulse from the 
Spirit do men constantly come into their true kin- 
ships. 

The supreme restlessness of the soul is the stir- 
ring to find God. The fellowship of God is the 
realization of the supreme capacity of each man. 
When an unrealized possibility in man, it is the 
source of the greatest restlessness. Not until this 
capacity finds its normal development can a man’s 
restlessness cease. When a man begins to know 
God, peace begins in his life. 

Is it reasonable to believe that God constituted 
men with capacities and intends to thwart them 
when they strive after development of their possi- 
bilities? Rather is not the existence of a capacity 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


59 


a prophecy of its development — in this life or an- 
other — when a man shall conform to the conditions 
of its development? Above all shall not the ca- 
pacity for friendship with God find its realization 
when man truly seeks for it? Is it not intended 
that this capacity shall find the beginning of its 
realization early in a man’s development? How 
else is true self-realization possible? All other 
powers of a man fail of the true goal of their 
activity except as they minister to the life of fel- 
lowship with God. Their service is noblest when 
they broaden and enrich this life. Therefore this 
fellowship should be dominant from the out- 
set. 

A man’s heart demands the free and unfettered 
realization of his full self. He longs for freedom 
from external constraint. He desires no restraint 
within himself. This is real freedom. It is the 
power “ to realize one’s own nature by one’s own 
acts.” It is “ the power to realize all the best and 
highest powers ” of one’s nature. It is the power 
to become that for which the man was constituted 
at the outset by the Spirit. 

How shall a man know that for which he was 
constituted? What man knows himself before he 
has come into a pronounced development of some 
possibilities? It is only in the actual process of 
development of one’s powers that they can be 
known by one’s self. He it is who must make the 
decisions which shape the development. He must 


60 


THE SUPREME NEED 


make them before the development when as yet he 
is unqualified to make them. 

Again, if a soul should have a vision of the true 
self fully matured could it know the kinds of toil 
and discipline required for the attainment of that 
self? If this knowledge were given would not 
many souls fear and refuse to attempt the toil that 
must intervene, the privations, the self-discipline, 
even sufferings, not to mention the possibility of 
failure? Would not their courage often fail by 
the way? 

The restlessness which the Spirit arouses in a 
person, the longing for better things which He 
quickens are a necessity in the nature of things. 
It is because of this necessity that He gently touches 
the soul, arousing hopes in the fearful, and courage 
in the timid, warning the hasty and even thrusting 
the sluggish soul out of its inertia. 

More important is the mission of the Spirit in 
attempting to give proper direction to the activity 
put forth by an aroused soul. The soul is endowed 
with freedom in order that its development may be 
a self-realization. Only when the acts are the soul’s 
own acts is self-realization possible. Not otherwise 
are the best and highest powers of a soul realized. 
The Spirit may urge — press a soul and does so. 
The soul makes the choices, even though the choice 
may be a mere acquiescence. 

There are many souls so hedged by circum- 
stances, breeding and providence, that the right 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


61 


choices are easy, almost inevitable. Other souls are 
not so happily placed. When the normal desires 
are aroused, a crowd of other impulses and long- 
ings also spring up and clamor to seize the reins 
which direct action. Thus may the soul choose the 
wrong goal for its self-realization. 

The greatest error is made when the soul centers 
self in self. The perfection of personality is not 
thus found. The beginning is abnormal. No sub- 
sequent development can be normal. Freedom is 
lost, for a soul can gain and maintain its freedom 
only in its normal life and activities. If the soul 
moves in the wrong direction when aroused by the 
Spirit, it loses clearness of vision and wisdom. In 
fact if it fails to center self in God, it falls into 
bondage. If it does not make the friendship of 
God its chief good, it finds no satisfaction for its 
restlessness. 

The work of the Spirit in arousing a desire for 
things better does not cease when a man has turned 
to the worse course. The soul is not left to its 
slavery, unwisdom and loss of vision. The Spirit 
continues to stir desires for things better in order 
to continue and increase the longing for good as yet 
unattained. He causes a persistent discontent to 
make a way for a redemptive work. He refuses 
to leave the soul to its selfishness and consequent 
misery. To the sense of want of good He adds 
the sense of sin in not choosing the supreme good. 

It is not to be thought that an abnormal experi- 


62 


THE SUPREME NEED 


ence is meant. It is a normal experience in an ab- 
normal situation. The Spirit simply maintains the 
right relations of the normal constitution of the 
soul. The choice of the wrong goal of life nor- 
mally produces a discord within one's self. It is 
only when first things are first in one’s life that 
the soul is at harmony. The development of ca- 
pacities not in their normal relations becomes a 
death in life; for life is the normal activity of one’s 
capacities, accomplishing the proper destiny of the 
soul and death is the failure to accomplish this 



The special work: of the Spirit is to use the rest- 
lessness and discontent to drive home a conviction 
that the failure to find content and joy in the ac- 
tivities of life is not a mere blunder in choosing 
good, but is due to an element of wilfulness in that 
choice. 

This work of the Spirit is thus stated by Jesus, 
“ And He when He is come, will convict the world 
of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 
of sin because they believe not on me; of right- 
eousness because I go to my Father, and ye behold 
me no more; of judgment, because the prince of 
this world hath been judged.” (Jo. xvi. 8-n). 
When a man is enslaved and blinded he needs a 
power which shall convict him of the sin by which 
he gave himself over to slavery and blindness. The 
Spirit alone can do this, and He is constantly striv- 
ing to this end with those who have not believed 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


63 


on Jesus. This does not mean that their sin con- 
sists in failing to believe some theory about the 
person of Jesus. Their sin was the refusal to ac- 
cept Jesus as the Master of their lives, as the one 
who should introduce them to the friendship of 
God. Their sin continues in the refusal to accept 
Jesus as the Saviour from their self-centered, sin- 
ful conduct of life. 

The normal outcome of the stirrings of the Holy i 
Spirit in a sinful soul is to seek the fellowship of 
the Father. The normal result of the conviction of 
the sin of neglecting Jesus is the acquiescence in his 
claim to be Master of our lives and to be the sole 
Mediator for the entrance into the fellowship of the 
Father. This fellowship is to be entered by a 
reconciliation. The Spirit makes a soul feel the 
need of reconciliation and keeps the sense of need 
fresh until the reconciliation is accomplished. 

The fundamental error was due to lack of faith. 

This lack is a lack of conviction of righteousness as 
essential to the chief good of a man. This convic- 
tion is no mere intellectual conception about right- 
eousness. It means adherence to the real values of 
life. The Spirit brings to pass the conviction of 
the true place of righteousness in human life. 

It is at this stage that the Spirit naturally be- 
gins to convince men of the judgment of the prince 
of this world. That prince was the antagonist 
whose downfall was the result of the life and work 
of Jesus. All antagonists of Jesus share that down- 


64 


THE SUPREME NEED 


fall. There are souls for whom suffering or fear 
of suffering is the only possible means of intro- 
ducing true ideas respecting the values of life. 
They begin to see the true values of life only when 
they realize that the issues of eternity are based 
on their personal relation with Jesus Christ. Then 
they begin to see that righteousness is possible only 
when he is accepted as Lord and Saviour. 

)"** The new vision, the persuasion to come into true 
relation with Jesus Christ, the beginning of a nor- 
mal development of life, the breaking of the fetters 
of sin are due to the Holy Spirit and His continu- 
ous moving to seek better things. If He does not 
arouse the soul, if He does not kindle dissatisfac- 
tion and by this dissatisfaction convince the soul of 
its sin, a man will certainly continue in the conse- 
quences of his wrong choices. A free life is found 
only when carrying out the suggestions of the Holy 
Spirit. The consenting soul is the only one which 
the Spirit can guide as it needs to be guided into 
the best things of life. 

The movings of the Spirit in one way or another, 
and the ways are numerous, are adapted to bring 
the soul to feel the necessity of coming into nor- 
■ mal relations with God in order to accomplish one’s 
normal development. Not before a man feels this 
necessity does he consent to give God his way in 
the life of the soul. The conviction of sin may be 
most intense, sorrow may be most bitter, the sense 
of guilt may be most appalling; these all are due to 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 65 

the Holy Spirit moving a man to desire better 
things. 

Two factors are plainly in operation; the divine 
influence and the consent of the human will; a 
divine initiative and a human acquiescence. The 
divine initiative is partly in the original constitution 
of the human soul, partly in stirring to right action, 
partly in striving after correction of wrong choices 
and partly in working toward a reconciliation with 
God, or the correction from wrong attitude toward 
God to right relation with Him. In consequence 
of all this initiative man lets himself be persuaded 
to attempt the realization of that which is involved 
in his nature by creation. 


The Renewal of Spiritual Life 


I N spite of all the operations of the Spirit mov- 
ing men toward their normal destiny, many 
men refuse to yield to Him. Their Godward 
capacity is undeveloped. They are far from real- 
izing what is involved in their nature by creation. 
Conduct has formed a second nature centered in 
self instead of in God. 

How can a man change this nature? He can 
modify his actual environment, he can enter a dif- 
ferent one. He can subject himself to long courses 
of discipline, either intellectual, aesthetic or social, 
and this may bring into action so many powers 
previously unsuspected that he is said to be a new 
man. 

Yet all this time the center of his personality, the 
references of his motives, the thoughts of his life 
center within himself. His nature is unchanged. 
Not for such a life was he constituted by creation. 

Until the center of gravity of the personality has 
been placed in God no personal development can be 
normal. A man’s motives must come to refer con- 
stantly to God, his thoughts and aims must come to 
center constantly in God. 

66 


RENEWAL OF SPIRITUAL LIFE 67 

This change in the center of personality, inten- 
tional, deliberate, is not within a man’s unaided 
power. Temperament, habits of action, sentiments 
of years, feelings, passions, ideals cannot be revolu- 
tionized by an act of will or a series of such acts. 
However much a man may wish and desire such a 
result, the powers resident within him are insuffi- 
cient to transfer the center of self from within to 
a point outside himself. 

For the removal of the human personality to its 
normal center a new power is needed and it is 
given under the law of grace. The power to do 
this is imparted by the Holy Spirit, and this power 
comes because of the crowning exhibition of divine 
love in the vicarious sufferings of Jesus Christ. 
Power comes also by reason of the disciples of 
Christ entering into the fellowship of the sufferings 
of Christ and filling up that which is behind of those 
sufferings. This new power serves to convince of 
the reality of the spiritual life and of its true value; 
to reveal the character of God and his estimate of 
sin, i.e. the abnormal centering of human life in 
self. 

The sufferings of Jesus and his disciples furnish 
the Holy Spirit with the visible evidence which the 
Holy Spirit needs in order to bring self-centered 
persons to recognize the truth, and thereby gain 
the power to carry out the regenerative fiat, even 
as the Spirit of God made possible the execution 
of the creative fiat. As he then operated in de- 


68 


THE SUPREME NEED 


veloping the laws of nature, so now he develops 
the laws of grace. Along the avenues of the human 
heart which exist by virtue of the original creation, 
and by virtue of the constant preservation of the 
natural powers of the soul, we must believe that 
the new principle of grace gains access to the soul 
and begins its operations therein. 

The change is revolutionary as is indicated by 
the various modes of expression designating it in 
the New Testament. The change is called becom- 
ing as little children (Mt. xviii. 3), a new creation 
(2 Co. v. 17; Gal. vi. 15), transformation by the 
renewing of the mind (Ro. xii. 2), life as con- 
trasted with death (Ro. vi. 11), shining into the 
hearts of men, like the creative light shining in the 
darkness (2 Co. iv. 6), creation in Jesus Christ for 
good works (Eph. ii. 10), resurrection from the 
dead (Col. ii. 13, cf. Eph. ii. 1, 5), reconciliation 
from alienation and hostility (Col. i. 21), putting 
on the new man (Eph. iv. 24; Col. iii. 10), a re- 
newal in knowledge (Col. iii. 10), renewal in the 
spirit of the mind (Eph. iv. 23), renewing by the 
Holy Spirit (Tit. iii. 5), a new birth, or birth from 
above (Jo. iii. 3), and being born of the Spirit (Jo. 
iii. 5). With all these phrases compare (Ezek. 
xxxvi. 26) the new heart and the new spirit prom- 
ised in the Messianic times. 

Figurative language means more than its expres- 
sions, rather than less, for, aside from hyperbole, 
it is used because of the incapacity of literal ex- 


RENEWAL OF SPIRITUAL LIFE 69 


pressions to set forth the reality. Here the reality 
means nothing less than a complete revolution 
within the personality of a man. The number and 
variety of the figures do more than express the fact, 
they emphasize it most strongly. The Holy Spirit 
is the agent who accomplishes this revolution. 

In respect to conversion the Spirit secures some 
conception of the real character of God, of the 
proper relation between God and the individual, 
and also of the possibility of entrance into this re- 
lation. He secures imperative action in the con- 
science so that it commands an entrance into the 
right relation with God, and persuades the will to 
the choice of this relation, which choice is conver- 
sion. 

It sometimes comes to pass in the midst of a care- 
less life, with no thought of moral standards, with 
no external occasion to turn the mind to this par- 
ticular subject, that there arises in the soul a sense 
of uneasiness respecting some act or course of con- 
duct. This uneasiness increases. It is resisted; 
the mind seeks diversion, but in vain. In spite of 
all efforts the mind is held to the subject. The feel- 
ing intensifies; the person comes into an agony of 
soul respecting his relation with God. The uneasi- 
ness passes into a passionate regret for the past 
life. It may be called repentance if it issues in a 
change of conduct. This change is a change of 
mind, the acceptance of a new point of view re- 
specting life and duty, conversion follows. All this 


70 


THE SUPREME NEED 


is at variance with the usual ongoing of human feel- 
ing and conduct, though it is in reality turning to 
the normal from the abnormal in life. 

While the experience just sketched correctly de- 
scribes many conversions, it is not common, so far 
as we have testimony, for the sense of uneasiness 
to be aroused without external occasion. More 
often, some event, some word, something notice- 
able, whether startling or casual, arrests the atten- 
tion and somehow directs it to the moral character 
of the life. When once the attention is arrested, 
the subsequent experience is quite similar to that 
given above. Conversion may have other occasions, 
as when the heart is smitten by a sudden sense of 
the charm of Christ, and it yields full allegiance 
to him, as the best and dearest friend that a human 
being can have; or as when the Christian life is 
seen to be one’s duty and is therefore accepted. 

In the large majority of cases a person has a 
sense that there is a factor in the experience more 
and other than his own activity. He sees clearly 
what is his duty; he is urged by conscience; he has 
a desire to choose rightly; but the requisite energy 
of will is lacking. An energy is required sufficient 
to shift the very center of personality — now in 
self — and place it in God. The person needs all 
the energy of his being, and more, in order to move 
the radii of his thoughts and activities and give 
them their normal center. Somehow, while wish- 
ing that he might make the change and at the same 


RENEWAL OF SPIRITUAL LIFE 71 


time feeling conscious of his inability to do it, he 
suddenly finds that he does make it, and that he 
has made it. An element has manifested itself 
which is felt not to be due to the person’s own 
capacity or action. There is a change of mind, a 
metanoia, repentance. We cannot explain the ex- 
perience except from Scripture, which teaches that 
the element external to the soul is the regenerating 
work of the Holy Spirit. From the human side it 
may not be possible to give a more complete an- 
alysis of what has taken place. It would seem pre- 
sumptuous to say that this one is complete. Per- 
haps regenerating grace is merely the gift to the 
human will of the energy requisite to enter into 
normal relations with God. 

This sketch of the renewal of the spiritual life 
is general. It includes a large variety of experi- 
ences such as that of the person in adult life who 
passes from mere indifference to the Christian life 
to an acquiescence in the service of God as the true 
mode of living. It includes also the experience of 
that soul who even hates the Christian life and an- 
tagonizes it until the Spirit brings him to choose 
it with all the ardor of his being. It includes also 
those conversions which are called “ paroxysmal.” 

In fact, it is in such instances as those narrated 
by Harold Begbie in “ Twice Born Men ” that the 
necessity of recognizing the work of the Holy 
Spirit is most obvious. Those occurrences are not 
so unique as many persons think. Most people in 


n 


THE SUPREME NEED 


adult life could have known parallel instances. 
There are many men who can match those narra- 
tives with hundreds from their own observations. 
The book has great scientific importance. It has 
forced recognition of facts from many doubting 
souls. 

In these cases the Spirit dealt with souls who 
were ignorant, or indifferent and disbelieving, or 
hostile and unbelieving. “ Paroxysmal ” changes 
occurred followed by permanently transformed 
lives. Unless these experiences or similar ones are 
carefully studied a man’s conception of conversion 
is inadequate. 

The experiences thus far considered are of the 
extra-normal operations essential to the recovery 
from an abnormal state. The necessity of such ex- 
periences for the entrance into the Christian life is 
not universal. The abnormal state of separation 
from God can be prevented by Christian nurture. 
The one great act of will placing the center of self 
in God may be distributed into many choices during 
the years of infant and youthful life. 

It sometimes occurs that the soul passes through 
the early years of life without the consciousness 
of ever living an unchristian life. Human nature 
is so constituted that it is as natural for the heart 
of the child to respond to the truths of the Gospel 
as for the senses to respond to their appropriate 
stimuli. The child properly approached from the 
beginning may be expected to love Christ and wish 


RENEWAL OF SPIRITUAL LIFE 73 


to serve him as readily as he loves and obeys his 
mother. 

Thus does the Holy Spirit cause the environment 
of the child to be an appropriate means for securing 
the normal relations of the child and God. 

Suppose a child is born and reared in a Chris- 
tian home which is ruled by loyalty to God the 
Father, by devotion to Jesus Christ as Saviour and 
Ruler of the life. The intentional and uninten- 
tional influences of that home press so strongly 
upon the thoughts, feelings and volitions of the 
child that it is abnormal for him not to have a 
Christian attitude from the dawn of spiritual con- 
sciousness. When the child is taught to pray, when 
he hears the stories of the Gospels, the normal re- 
actions of thought, feeling and deeds are Christian. 

Under such circumstances the Holy Spirit is 
forestalling the development of abnormal selfish 
features of life. The child may grow up free from 
the thought of himself as separated from God or as 
estranged from Him. Those processes of develop- 
ment which precede the dawn of individual con- 
sciousness may be so influenced as to secure a dis- 
position which is not selfish and an attitude toward 
God which is filial. 

The child feels from the beginning that the Chris- 
tian life is the only true life. He wishes no other. 
He has no need to struggle in order to enter the 
Christian way of life. He acquiesces in it when it 
is put before him, and in such manner as is possible 


74 


THE SUPREME NEED 


for a child he goes in that way. In this respect he 
enters the spiritual life in a manner similar to that 
in which he should enter the intellectual life or the 
industrial life under the leadership and guidance of 
his elders. The spiritual life is no exception to the 
principle that the normal way to attain maturity 
is after a period of tutelage in order to secure a 
proper beginning of any form of activity. 

Parents sometimes fail to recognize the possi- 
bilities of Christian nurture and its importance. 
They may have erroneous ideas respecting the en- 
trance into the Christian life. They may neglect 
Christian nurture. They may make the environ- 
ment of the child non-Christian. In such ways are 
children debarred from a normal growth, and con- 
demned to some type of extra-normal experience 
which we call conversion. 

Because the Holy Spirit constantly ministers to 
every soul, and because every soul hungers for 
harmony within itself and with the source of its 
being, this world will ever move toward the real- 
ization of the kingdom of God. All men who share 
the desire and toil of Jesus for the redemption of 
the world may have the assurance that their faith 
is grounded in the nature of things. Thus is the 
renewal of the spiritual life of the entire world to 
come to pass, for its necessity was put into the hu- 
man constitution by its creation. 


VIII 


The Faith that Comes by the Spirit 

T HE operations of the human soul are so 
complex that it is often necessary to study 
a single element by itself. Faith is in- 
volved in all the operations set forth in the two 
preceding chapters. It is one of those elements 
which deserves separate consideration. 

The faith that the Scripture regards as necessary 
is the full acceptance of Jesus Christ as Master and 
as Saviour. It consists “ in a reliant trust in the 
invisible Author of all good.” “ It is a movement 
of the whole inner man, the coming out of the 
heart from itself and its resting in God in confident 
trust for all good.” 

This full strong faith does not exist at the be- 
ginning. Its character is commonly manifested first 
in conversion. Its maturity comes only after ex- 
perience of fellowship with Jesus Christ has be- 
come a permanent feature of one’s life. 

In the blind outreaching for something better, al- 
ready considered, was the implicit faith that there 
must be something better: in the conversion of a 
soul to obedience to Jesus Christ the faith becomes 
explicit and conscious. Not until faith becomes 
75 


76 


THE SUPREME NEED 


explicit and conscious can spiritual life be renewed. 
This conscious faith is an attitude of mind pro- 
moted by the Holy Spirit. It is not a new capacity 
which is created, as sometimes seems to be sup- 
posed; but the Spirit calls into its proper place of 
supremacy in life a capacity which without His aid 
would probably not have become active or regula- 
tive. This faith is essential for the reunion of the 
soul with God, and for the establishment of a right 
relation with Him. 

In the self-centered state of a man a common 
attitude of mind is distrust of God, a disbelief in 
any good to come from a surrender of self to God 
for His ruling of life; a complete lack of conviction 
of things not seen, and in consequence a refusal to 
find one’s good in a life not self-centered; and 
finally a rising into opposition, sometimes even vio- 
lent, under the pressure of God’s claim for obe- 
dience. 

The capacity for the development of personality 
strives toward satisfaction in that spurious person- 
ality which is self-centered, not believing that the 
actual realization of a finite personality comes only 
by centering itself in the Infinite. The truth which 
Jesus uttered in the metaphor of the vine and the 
branches covers the whole of life as well as the 
matter of bearing fruit. In the self-centered state 
of man the lack of faith becomes an impassable 
obstacle in the way of a true realization of one’s 
personality. 


THE FAITH THAT COMES 


77 


That which is lacking is a belief that God is 
man’s chief good, and that he alone is the means 
by which man’s self-realization is possible, and that 
he longs to help forward that realization of man’s 
best possibilities far more than man can ever desire 
it himself. The Spirit fosters the belief that man’s 
chief good is God. The beginning of this belief is 
seen when man’s will consents to his conversion. 

An obstacle to such faith often lies in the fact 
that a man’s wilful refusal to believe in this fatherly 
love produces in his own consciousness a sense of 
estrangement between him and God. So also the 
same result will follow a persistent denial of the 
necessity of God in a man’s life. The work of the 
Spirit is needful in any case, and there is the double 
necessity of removing estrangement as well as lead- 
ing to a faith in God as the supreme good. 

It is not normal for a man to live in such dis- 
belief, nor in such separation from God. By the 
very constitution of human nature the abnormal 
elements of life fail to secure satisfaction for the 
wants of the soul, and they also produce a con- 
tinual sense of unreconciled antagonisms in one’s 
nature. All this is due to the constant presence and 
operation of the Holy Spirit stirring each legiti- 
mate longing of the soul with its proper demand for 
real or genuine satisfaction. Thus does He ever 
keep alive a man’s sense of need. 

These experiences which produce great dissatis- 
faction in the soul and great disappointments in life 


78 


THE SUPREME NEED 


are used by the Spirit to awaken convictions which 
men often ignore and even smother. It is by the 
destruction of other objects in which men trust for 
self-realization that the Spirit makes a negative 
preparation for faith in a God who is the sole 
refuge of man. 

At last a man may consent to doubt the excel- 
lency of his own way; may acknowledge the pos- 
sibility that there may be a better way. He may 
consent to try that way, consciously or uncon- 
sciously consent to the transfer of the center of self 
from self to God in whom he comes later to per- 
ceive he can attain that completeness of self which 
he has desired. 

This mere consent to accept new ruling motives 
in life is the beginning of faith, and of the life of 
faith. It becomes the foundation for the super- 
structure of a Christian character. It becomes a 
pervasive principle in life’s activities. It gives value 
to every element in life because it sets each of them 
in a true and proper relation to God. Thus a man 
acquires the power rightly to estimate the value of 
life in general. The apparent values of the present 
fall away from his eyes and he gains in power to 
see them sub specie ceternitatis. This is a power 
which a finite being does not of himself possess, 
but under the guidance of the Holy Spirit he is led 
to conduct himself in accord with such values; 
and thereby he begins to have power to see things 
as they really are. Submitting to the will of the 


THE FAITH THAT COMES 


79 


Spirit he ever moves in the direction of the eternal 
life. Thus it is that the experiences appropriate to 
an eternal fellowship with God begin in his life. 

This faith is also a splendid resting in the spirit- 
ual realities of life. It is living in the unseen. It 
does not ignore the seen, but it discerns everywhere 
the fact that the power and value of the seen are 
not in the seen itself, nor in anything visible or 
tangible; rather that the seen has its significance 
and its value as an expression of the unseen and 
eternal. 

This faith recognizes this world as the field of 
the development of our spirits. The physical world 
is now accepted as a stimulus for the spirit, as a 
means of communication between spiritual beings, 
and as a means of self-expression and revelation of 
these same spiritual beings. With a faith like this 
man sees the inexpressible educational value of the 
uniformity of nature; and he can also realize that 
the same moral reason which exists for the uni- 
formity of nature, can also rule in breaking through 
that uniformity when still higher moral or spiritual 
interests may demand it. 

In the earlier stages of this faith the man ceases 
his efforts to harmonize the inner discords of his 
nature, to heal his own hurts, or to accomplish his 
destiny without God. He consents to the persua- 
sions of the Spirit within his soul, or he may even 
lay hold of God’s promise to accept him as a prom- 
ise for himself. 


80 


THE SUPREME NEED 


When this measure of faith appears in his life 
then the divine forgiveness can come. It is a token 
of the divine act called regeneration. A sense of 
peace, of a pure conscience, follows. It is what 
Paul calls justification. It is the acceptance of a 
man as though actually pleasing to God. Favor and 
approval replace condemnation. The Holy Spirit 
by promoting faith in the soul works for the puri- 
fication of thought and motives. Regeneration sets 
into operation the remedial influences which bring 
into normal condition the disordered and abnormal 
conditions of the soul. It is a man’s faith which 
permits them the opportunity of operation. 


IX 


Aspiration and the Spirit 
HE moving of the Spirit kindling a desire 



for better things never ceases. Whenever 


a soul reaches one height of spiritual 
achievement, it is brought to see a still more excel- 
lent eminence yet to be attained. The desire for 
better things becomes aspiration for Christlike 
character, and for Christlike service. 

By means of such aspiration the Spirit works on 
the one hand for complete redemption to a man’s 
highest possibilities, for his sanctification; and on 
the other hand He promotes a man’s efficiency in 
the service of the Redeemer’s kingdom. 

Thus did the Spirit work for the beginning of 
the Christian life by “ repentance toward God and 
faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Acts xx. 
21 ). He continues also by kindling longing in our 
hearts. This is that hungering and thirsting for 
righteousness to which Jesus promised satisfaction. 
This is more than an ethical ideal. Rather it is a 
personal aspiration, such as that of Paul (Phil. iii. 
io), and since it is kindled by the Spirit it need 
not be unsatisfied. 

We may say that the soul that has been reborn 
also comes to long for the conscious Sonship, and 


81 


THE SUPREME NEED 


82 

for all that experience of the divine fellowship 
which is possible for a being created in the image 
of God. The rest which a person may find in God 
is found only in this experience. It may some- 
times be ecstatic, but normally it is quiet and rest- 
ful as the secure sense of the relations of our home 
life. These relations, when normal, admit of no 
question or uneasiness about them, and ecstatic mo- 
ments are rare so long as the intercourse is un- 
broken by separation or danger. 

What is this hunger and thirst after righteous- 
ness? Does it mean a chronic unrest? a restless 
seeking for spiritual satisfaction? Does it mean a 
yearning for something intangible, unattainable? 

Not these things. The Holy Spirit brings the vague 
longings to clear consciousness, to self-recognition 
as aspiration for the full fellowship of Jesus Christ, 
in which fellowship righteousness is the only de- 
sirable frame of soul. The hunger is indeed a 
longing desire. It is “ great earnestness, desire and 
fervor ” “ directed toward a moral constitution 
free from guilt.” This determination of the soul 
to share the character of Jesus brings the soul to 
its full self-consciousness. The man knows him- 
self to have left far behind that vague uneasiness 
which the Spirit used in order to awaken him to his 
greatest need. The whole experience is thoroughly 
normal. 

Man ceases to be normal when he ceases to hun- 
ger and thirst for something to which he has not 


ASPIRATION AND THE SPIRIT 83 


yet attained. It is when he hungers and thirsts for 
righteousness that he may hope for satisfaction. If 
his earnest desires are set on other objects in life 
there is no certainty that they will be realized. 
When they are set on righteousness they will have 
the divine blessing of a constantly increasing real- 
ization. This satisfaction Paul saw could come 
about by faith in Christ. All the other blessings in 
his former life failed to bring it. Indeed they were 
only a damage to him when they stood between 
him and the supreme satisfaction which Jesus could 
give him. 

How shall aspiration be directed toward the 
right objects? What shall turn that striving, that 
outreaching of the soul, which is in every human 
being, so that it shall be fruitful instead of a rest- 
less seeking after an unknown and unattainable 
goal ? 

That impulse is not now an impulse of the Cos- 
mic Spirit so much as it is of the Redemptive 
Spirit; not so much due to the Spirit of life as to 
the Divine impelling of man to strive after the 
rightful goal of his being with the recognition that 
it is the rightful goal. Let him therefore yield the 
active outreaching of his soul to the direction of 
the Spirit. Not blindly, but as an intelligent fel- 
low worker with that Spirit. All this is due, let 
him remember, to the Holy Spirit who stirs within 
him, and the direction is entirely toward a holy 
fellowship which constantly calls for a holy char- 


84 


THE SUPREME NEED 


acter. Let him constantly assure himself that the 
Spirit will lead him by the normal action of his 
powers so that they will work harmoniously toward 
the highest development of his capacities. 

This aspiration for individual righteousness is 
but one part of the normal longing of the Christian. 
The meaning of the Christian life does not really 
appear until aspiration includes the passion for be- 
coming a fellow worker of Jesus Christ in his work 
of redeeming men. Then the Christian believer be- 
comes the Christian worker. Then, and not before, 
does he share the life of Christ. Until he thus 
shares the life of Christ he has no right to think 
that he is led by the Spirit, or that he holds him- 
self in obedience to the Spirit. 

What is needed in this world is a church com- 
posed of believers who long for the coming of the 
Kingdom of God. Aspiration is imperfect, incom- 
plete, unless it is transformed into a passion for the 
reign of righteousness in the lives of men. This 
touches the great need of our generation, which is 
that individuals — the church — all society shall be 
possessed by the zeal for the kingdom of God. All 
the striving for equity and righteousness is evi- 
dence of the moving of the Spirit. All attainment 
of this goal is due to the aspiration which He kin- 
dles and to the guidance which He gives. 

Aspiration is an invitation by the Spirit. When 
this invitation is properly accepted and cherished 
it becomes a prophecy. 


X 


The Spirit and His Witness to Sonship 
v- 

T WO features of sonship are noteworthy, the 
reality of the sonship of Christian believers, 
and their consciousness of it. 

A metaphysical thinker might ask how the finite 
soul in a world of sense could ever be, or come 
to be, in the relation of son to the invisible and 
eternal God. In respect to such questions an acute 
thinker once said that theology answered the ques- 
tions of philosophy but not in the terms of phi- 
losophy. This question is answered in human ex- 
perience, in terms of life, not of speculation. “ But 
as many as received him, to them gave he the right 
to become children of God, even to them that be- 
lieve on his name; who were born not of blood, nor 
of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of 
God.” (Jo. i. 12, 13). 

However a soul may have received Jesus, — by a 
cataclysmic conversion, by Christian nurture, or 
by some other mode in which a man may come to 
center himself in God, — the soul that has received 
Jesus has entered into the sonship of God. It is 
by faith in Christ as Saviour that we come into the 
85 


86 


THE SUPREME NEED 


reality of sonship, for he that saved us is not 
ashamed to call us brethren. He gives us the pat- 
tern of sonship, a life of intimacy with God and 
perfect confidence in him. His life was consciously 
and intentionally what God wished it to be. 

The life of the Infinite and Eternal drew near 
to us in Jesus Christ. “ In him dwelleth all the 
fulness of the Godhead bodily.” (Col. ii. 9). 
Through Christ therefore the divine life grips ours. 
It works with transforming power. It brings us 
into consciousness of God’s love. God’s love is 
“ the readiness for Fatherhood which dwells from 
the beginning in God’s heart.” It is “ God’s pres- 
sure of himself upon man with a view to that close 
union in which he is Father and man is son ” 
(Clark, p. 88). When this paternal love was 
felt through Jesus Christ, then could man yield 
to the pressure and enter the relation of son- 
ship. 

Whatever man may think about the essential 
nature of God, he must recognize the love of God 
in Jesus Christ and accept the fact that God’s will 
is permanently reaching out to sustain, guide, in- 
spire, love and bless him. This is the attitude 
of fatherhood. In reaching out for better things, 
in repentance from sin, in conversion, in aspira- 
tion the human will responds. The response by 
turning from abnormal relations with God, from 
unbelief to faith, is a filial response. This is in 
reality the act of a son even though there is no 


THE SPIRIT AND HIS WITNESS 87 


consciousness of sonship. Filial conduct is fol- 
lowed by the beginning of filial love. As filial love 
is essential to perfection in home life, so also is it 
indispensable in the religious life. Trust and obe- 
dience are also marks of normal childhood. They 
are the receiving of the Kingdom of God as little 
children. The conscious striving after a character 
perfect and holy like that of God is another mark 
of sonship. These are points in which the sonship 
of believers is similar to the spiritual sonship of 
Jesus as shown in the Gospels. 

This spiritual sonship began by an act on the part 
of man; and the correlative and antecedent act of 
God was forgiveness and the gracious reception of 
the penitent : it is thus that the individual and per- 
sonal relation is formed. When the relationship has 
been thus established a new spiritual life has been 
imparted by the Spirit, then the sense of sonship can 
come. With the sense of sonship comes that of 
heirship, joint heirship with Christ. It is by the 
divine love due to the operations of the Spirit, the 
fellowship of the divine nature which the Spirit 
generates, produces, nourishes, sustains that the 
sense of sonship is brought into consciousness. 

It is true that sonship may exist before one be- 
comes conscious of it. In fact there have been 
types of Christian experience in which the Chris- 
tian regarded himself as so unworthy to call him- 
self a Christian that it seemed to him presumption 
if he even thought of the name in connection with 


88 


THE SUPREME NEED 


himself. He could “ indulge a hope.” Beyond 
that he might not venture. When there is such a 
clouding of faith, or failure to apprehend God’s 
Fatherhood, the conditions of the consciousness of 
sonship are not fully present. There have been 
stages of morbid experience wherein persons tor- 
mented themselves with the question whether they 
belonged to the “ elect.” It seemed to them pre- 
sumptuous to believe that so great a blessing could 
come to them. It seemed to them that if they were 
to believe themselves to be Christians they would be 
claiming some merit which was not theirs. In both 
cases these people were sons of God as really as any 
persons ever were. It is far from the reality that 
a sense of sonship is accompanied with the feeling 
of having earned anything. At the most we can 
only feel that we have honestly attempted to com- 
ply with conditions on which God makes known 
his Fatherhood. This is all the work of the Spirit. 
We may recognize the work of the Spirit in the 
results. We may be sure that He has been work- 
ing in our spirits, because the result is from a 
power not ourselves. 

We might rightly claim sonship because of the 
divine promise of acceptance. We are not left to 
build our faith on the fact that we believe ourselves 
sincere disciples. We are creatures of moods and 
doubt can crumble our strongest subjective cer- 
tainties. For this reason the Spirit brings assur- 
ance of sonship into our consciousness. He that 


THE SPIRIT AND HIS WITNESS 89 


yields himself to be led by the Spirit may have the 
faith that he is a son of God (Ro. viii. 14), but 
more than that, he can have the witness of the 
Spirit with his spirit that his sonship is a reality 
(Ro. viii. 16). 


XI 


The Character Proper to Sons 

T HIS character is holiness, an end toward 
which we are to strive because God the 
Father is holy. The fact that believers are 
called “ saints,” i.e. holy, is indicative of an ideal, 
and also of a relation. 

As a man enters the consciousness of sonship 
some idea of its meaning comes to him. The more 
he realizes the meaning and value of the relation- 
ship the more he feels that he falls short of what 
is appropriate to it, both in conduct and in char- 
acter. A helper is needed, and it is the specific 
office of the Holy Spirit to carry on the work 
which He began to its consummation. He is the 
Redemptive Spirit, given to man to transform him 
by developing Christlikeness of character. He is 
the Holy Spirit because his specific work is to 
make holiness actual. This work of the Holy 
Spirit is, in the New Testament phrase, “ sancti- 
fication.” 

We here meet a word which has been much 
misused and abused, and is therefore liable to mis- 
lead us if we are not careful. If it were not for 
the fact that this word is a New Testament word, 
90 


THE CHARACTER PROPER TO SONS 91 


if it had come up in the course of theological dis- 
cussions only, it would be better to avoid it in a 
treatise like this. But this is out of the question. 
The New Testament uses words which belong to 
the beginning of the Christian life but which are 
left behind as one continues or progresses in the 
same. To change the figure, some words express 
the foundation of a Christian character, and some 
refer to the character which is built upon this 
foundation. Is the idea of sanctification to be 
associated with the one class of these words or with 
the other? 

What is sanctification? Is it an act? Is it 
progress toward perfection? Is it a settled state of 
sinlessness? Is it a character attained, perfect in 
quality, of symmetrical excellence — no part lack- 
ing? Is it freedom from all defect, on every side 
of one’s personality? Here as nowhere else in 
this discussion is complete sanity desirable, even 
imperative. For lack of it a person could easily 
make shipwreck of common morality. What is 
the evidence from Scripture? What contribution 
to the subject comes from human experience? 

In the study of the Bible it is not enough to say 
that Christians are often called holy ones, or saints. 
That the word demands investigation is evident 
from the fact that some of these saints needed to 
be exhorted to steal no more (Eph. iv. 28). Other 
sins also were not unknown among the persons ad- 
dressed as saints and to whom this epistle and 


92 THE SUPREME NEED 

those to the Colossians and Corinthians were 
sent. 

How does sanctification, holiness, differ from re- 
pentance, regeneration, conversion, justification? 
These latter are terms belonging to the beginning 
of the Christian life. If a holy person is not be- 
yond the need of an exhortation not to steal, does 
holiness, or sanctification, belong to the beginning 
of the Christian life? 

The investigation of the words translated holy, 
saint, sanctify (make holy), holiness, and sancti- 
fication is indispensable. Each several occurrence 
of each word should be studied, and the exact 
shade of meaning which the passage in question 
requires should be accepted. An adequate basis 
for an opinion is not to be gained in any other 
manner. The following passages, however, include 
all where the words translated “ holiness ” or 
“ sanctification ” occur, and they fairly represent 
all the related passages which might be mentioned: 
2 Co. vii. i, i Thes. iii. 13; 2 Co. i. 12, Heb. xii. 
10; Ro. vi. 19, 22, 1. Co. i. 30; 1 Thes. iv. 3, 4, 7, 
2 Thess. ii. 13, Heb. xii. 14, 1 Pet. i. 2. 

The examination of these passages shows plainly 
that the words are not used in a uniform sense. 
They sometimes mean dedication or consecration, 
and this may be wrought in the Spirit as the sphere 
of the saving process, or by the Spirit as the agent 
in this process. Also sanctification is something to 
be manifested, the life appropriate to persons dedi- 


THE CHARACTER PROPER TO SONS 93 


cated to God. Again it sometimes means a state 
to which one has not attained and which is to be 
sought, a preparedness to meet God. 

Thus the appeal to the New Testament does not 
give a hard and fast determination of the meaning. 
If this appeal to the ultimate, standard brings no 
clear decision, what are we to do? One thing we 
are to do, most certainly, and that is to refuse to 
use the term in any sense not in the New Testa- 
ment. Secondly, it is best to use some word other 
than sanctification which will express our meaning 
without ambiguity. 

Probably nobody will question the statement that 
the New Testament use of these words should 
govern our thought, and that we should accept the 
meaning which we find there without any qualifi- 
cation from the ideas which we may bring to the 
subject. However, it is by observation of the Chris- 
tian life of others and by the study of our own ex- 
perience that we may hope more completely to un- 
derstand the New Testament. Experience can 
interpret and illustrate the Scripture at points where 
erroneous opinions might easily come from the 
study of the letter of a single passage. The Spirit 
who was behind the life of the first Christian cen- 
tury, out of which the New Testament literature 
came, and was present with the writers when they 
expressed what they found in the Spirit-molded 
life, is still present in this century to teach the 
meaning of the language written long ago. And 


94 


THE SUPREME NEED 


without His guidance there is no sure understand- 
ing of the language. 

According to the New Testament it is the Spirit 
who works our consecration, making it effective, 
and He helps to maintain this consecration. 
Equally is it the human will which surrenders to 
God, and is strengthened by the Spirit, who also 
puts the willing, or surrendered person, into those 
relations, and subjects him to those influences which 
work for holy character. 

Thus it is the Spirit who presides over and ren- 
ders operative within us those spiritual processes 
which give the proper results in life and character 
and which we have been taught to call the fruit 
of the Spirit. These are thus in a true sense His 
gifts. They belong to a life which is growing to- 
ward a state of preparedness to see God, or the life 
which is perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 

Experience shows that this interpretation of the 
New Testament is correct. Often a Christian’s 
life includes a mount of transfiguration. It may 
be at conversion, it is as likely to come later. He 
has an inspiring vision of the true life as a habitual 
attitude of love toward God and man. The glory 
of the Christly life makes its proper impression on 
him. Life, however, has much in it beside visions. 
They are to be made real in the ordinary duties of 
life. 

He is plunged into his ordinary environment. 
The old surroundings make their wonted appeal. 


THE CHARACTER PROPER TO SONS 95 

Custom exerts its power whether coming from 
hereditary influences, or past deeds hardened into 
habits by years of repetition. The power of cus- 
tom may seem to be broken for a long time as in 
the experiences narrated in “ Twice Born Men.” 
If thus broken for any man, it is not broken for 
most men. Few men are wholly freed from bond- 
age by the influence of a vision. Indeed fiber of 
character is formed chiefly by the strenuous life 
in which old habits are replaced by new ones. 

When a conversion is cataclysmic, the revolu- 
tionary feature is the formation of a new purpose 
in life and the stirring of new affections. These 
are the beginning of a new development of char- 
acter, not a substitute for it. The development 
begins at the stage where the great experience found 
a person. While the attitude of the will has been 
changed, and the affections may have been revolu- 
tionized, and truth respecting life and duty may 
be seen for the first time, the new character is un- 
formed. This will be a deposit of habit which itself 
is the result of repeated actions of definite spirit- 
ual value. 

The new truth must pervade all the ideals of 
thought also. In the thinking must be enshrined 
those values of life taught by Jesus. Humility, 
sorrow over the real evils of life, meekness, long- 
ing for righteousness, mercy, purity of heart, the 
promotion of peace, even unmerited suffering for 
righteousness, must be held among the highest val- 


96 


THE SUPREME NEED 


ues of life. Men choose God’s service and give 
the affection of their hearts to Jesus Christ long 
before these ideals of his saturate their thinking. 
Unless a man thinks these thoughts of Jesus it is 
not Christ for him to live, and holiness is far from 
complete in him. 

In ignorance of this meaning of the Christian 
life many believers think that a great spiritual ex- 
perience settles all questions forever. It may be a 
decisive turning point. Usually it is no more. 
Thereafter must daily increments of power receive 
individual consecration as they come into the life. 
Aspiration likewise needs to broaden and intensify 
with the increase of capacity. 

It is the work of the Spirit to lead the believer 
safely through the perils of ignorance. It is for 
Him to keep the presence and thoughts of Jesus 
so fresh in the mind of the Christian that other 
thoughts shall lose power. Under His influence 
the faith of the immature Christian will not be- 
come divided between Christ and lesser goods. For 
“ when faith relaxes and the flow of the Christian 
life is not sufficient to fill our natures there are 
other life streams quick to seize the moment and to 
occupy the channels of life laid bare.” (Clark, 
p. 208). 

The immature Christian is not the only one who 
fails to recognize the subtle foes of spiritual life. 
At no stage of development is the believer without 
need of the presence of the Spirit offering protec- 


THE CHARACTER PROPER TO SONS 97 


tion against the dangers due to his own igno- 
rance. 

A sheltered development of life is an important 
part of the growth of character, but strength comes 
most fully by means of struggle. Self-discipline, 
voluntary effort to fill life with the practice of the 
ideals of Jesus, wise guarding against the entrance 
of other ideas, all are needed to secure holiness of 
character. 

Thus it is that the continuous action of the hu- 
man will is as indispensable as that of the divine 
agency itself (Phil. ii. 12, 13). This process has 
not improperly been called “ the battle of sancti- 
fication.^ 

The battle of sanctification is a suitable phrase. 
The person must strive to master his lower self. 
The struggle is unceasing. It must also be the 
work of the Spirit. Man alone cannot win in the 
contest. Even in those Christian lives which have 
been formed under the choicest type of Christian 
nurture there is rarely a selflessness like that of 
Jesus. Day after day must come the unremitting 
struggle against the selfish tendency to appropriate 
for self any new gift which God adds to one’s life. 
Then, too, one must struggle against the tempta- 
tions arising out of the past life, and the sudden 
and unforeseen gusts of feeling to which all are 
liable, and also those temptations which come from 
physical weakness and disease. All these are in- 
evitable for every one who is in the life of son- 


98 


THE SUPREME NEED 


ship. And for those whose life has not been so 
well placed in earlier years the battle must often go 
on much more fiercely. 

Daily prayer for help, hourly fresh influxes of 
strength, courage, hope, endurance which is not 
one’s own, must be sought and gained from the Holy 
Spirit. It is the office of the Holy Spirit to supply 
us with these, also to take of the things of Jesus 
and bring them into our lives. If we have the pas- 
sion for Jesus, and for Christlikeness, this is from 
the Holy Spirit. This is sanctification, the perfect- 
ing of holiness. 


XII 


The Spirit as Guide to the Truth 

I N the realm of truth as well as in the realm of 
life and of service the assistance of the Spirit 
is indispensable. No opinion is more mis- 
leading than the opinion that a man’s intellect may, 
by its own power, have clearness of vision and 
keenness of insight sufficient to comprehend what- 
ever truth may be presented to it. 

It is true that Jesus trained the Twelve. Even 
his training did not adequately qualify them to 
understand the facts to which they were to bear 
witness. The New Testament shows that if there 
had not been a Paraclete to guide them into the 
truth they would have failed to comprehend the 
Gospel of which they were to be the first and chief 
expounders. 

The history of the Christian church through the 
centuries has shown by acrid controversies or by 
grievous errors that a guide is needed. Where is 
the man who thinks earnestly and seriously who 
does not feel at times wholly unable to discern 
truth at points which are most vital ? The mingling 
of desires — good and bad — the stronger passions 
also good and bad, the hasty impulses pushing to 
99 


100 


THE SUPREME NEED 


action before the truth can be perceived, the fear 
of the consequences of action, be it duty or not, all 
these tend to blur vision, to destroy the purity of 
heart needed for insight into life and its meaning, 
to prevent that patient waiting upon God necessary 
for a vision of him. 

In reality the Spirit of truth is absolutely indis- 
pensable for growth and progress in the Christian 
life. Without Him the knowledge needed for this 
growth and progress will be a sealed book — sealed 
by human incapacity. No man can understand the 
meaning of his own experience without the aid of 
the divine interpreter, the Paraclete. 

No man can understand Christian experience in 
general, especially such elements as may not have 
come into his own life, without the aid of the 
Guide into all truth. No man can understand the 
Bible unless his heart is put into tune with the 
Bible by the Spirit who formed the life out of 
which the Bible came. Guidance into the truth is 
indispensable if one is to live as a son ought to live. 

No man can fully understand the ways of God 
and interpret them to men. Men can learn to be 
humble in the presence of infinite wisdom; they 
can learn not to misconstrue God’s ways where 
they do not understand them; they can learn, there- 
fore, not to misrepresent them. They can learn in 
part to recognize the limits of their knowledge, and 
can thus become qualified in a measure truly to 
represent God’s mind and his ways with men. 


THE SPIRIT AS GUIDE 


101 


Never can man do these things without the aid 
of that Spirit who searches the deep things 
of God. 

How broad is this promise of Jesus? Did he 
promise that the Spirit should lead the disciples 
into all kinds of truth, physical, scientific, mathe- 
matical, philosophical? To be sure the more per- 
fectly a soul is in sympathy with God the better 
attuned is that soul to understand these truths. 
God’s Spirit in creating man constituted him to 
long for each kind of knowledge and to, strive after 
its attainment. It is the same Spirit that maintains 
man’s life forces, and impels him to normal activi- 
ties, who moves him to seek and find truth of all 
kinds. But to the question whether non-religious 
truths were in the mind of Jesus, it must be an- 
swered that the Gospels nowhere indicate that such 
a thought was in his mind. Further, the only truth 
which Jesus mentioned was that which centered 
in his person. 

This explicitly limits the thought of Jesus to the 
truths concerning the life which he lived, the work 
he wrought, and the meaning for men of his life 
and work. The knowledge which Jesus promised 
concerned 

the Fatherhood of God, 
the Lordship of Jesus Christ, 
the sonship of man, 

the revelation of God as a supreme reality, 
the meaning of the Gospel, i.e. of the existence 


102 


THE SUPREME NEED 


of sin and the reality of redemption, and of the 
work of Jesus Christ, 
the wealth of the Gospel, 
the meaning of our religious experience. 

Thus the work of the Spirit is to make vivid in 
consciousness all that which Jesus made known re- 
specting God and the mind of God toward man. 
It is the Spirit who bears witness in our hearts and 
enables us to cry Abba, Father. 

Real knowledge of the lordship of Jesus (as of 
the Fatherhood of God) is due to the Holy Spirit 
alone (i Co. xii. 3) (cf. Mt. xvi. 17). As Spirit 
of truth He constantly brings to fuller knowl- 
edge the reality about Jesus Christ, who himself 
is the truth, i.e. “ God himself manifesting his 
essential life to the faith and need of men.” Thus 
as being in his very person the gracious revelation 
from God, Jesus Christ makes men know the reality 
respecting God’s person and will. 

The Holy Spirit must make vivid in our thought 
our sonship to God, else He would fail to make the 
fatherhood a reality for us. Yet more it is by 
the perfect sonship of Jesus that he fully declared 
the fatherhood of God. Jesus, by making mani- 
fest the fatherhood of God and his own sonship, 
expressed and revealed the realities about God as 
had never before been done. The holy love of 
God, reaching out after men to redeem them, be- 
came real to men as never before. Thus it was 
that God came to be more manifestly the supreme 


THE SPIRIT AS GUIDE 103 

reality in human existence. It is the Spirit present 
with us who enables us to discern these realities in 
their relation to ourselves. 

So also the knowledge which we may have of 
the wealth of the Gospel comes to us only when we 
have realized the nature of sin and the consequent 
value of redemption. It is the special work of the 
Spirit to bring home to us the consciousness of 
these things. It is his presence within us which 
enables us to appreciate the abysses into which men 
fall and to catch glimpses of the heights to which 
they can rise. This knowledge of the truth re- 
specting sin and redemption is essential to the ful- 
ness of transformation of men which we call sanc- 
tification. The Spirit presents the reality concern- 
ing a man’s self as sinner, and as an object of divine 
love and outreaching, so as to convince him of the 
truth. Then is the individual heart touched and 
aroused to action. Never are we to lose sight of 
the fact that it is a preeminent function of the Holy 
Spirit to make known the things of Jesus Christ 
in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowl- 
edge are hidden. 

In these operations the Spirit acts in harmony 
with those principles of mental action which He 
had already placed within man’s nature. In due 
time the man decides to take a normal attitude to- 
ward the realities of his spiritual life and to act 
in harmony with that attitude. 

The great reality of which the Spirit convinces 


104 


THE SUPREME NEED 


man is God himself. Without the activity of the 
Spirit man is not fully convinced. Throughout all 
the ages God has testified to his divinity and pres- 
ence in the world through his works and the human 
conscience, but the most responsive souls did not 
attain to knowledge of him by the powers of 
thought resident in them. (See Plato, Timseus 28- 
30: also Aristotle’s conception of the contemplative 
supreme intelligence, Metaphysics, xi. 7). God had 
become known more or less fully as a person under 
the Old Covenant. How fully he was realized as 
Father of the individual, even in the maturest types 
of Old Testament experience, cannot be said. It 
must be remembered that Jesus Christ himself was 
an Old Testament saint. He taught the Father- 
hood of God, but men were not even then prepared 
for the full realization of the Fatherhood of God 
and of his Being as the supreme reality. It is the 
ministration of the Holy Spirit since the days of 
Jesus which has brought men to an adequate real- 
ization of these truths. 

How does the Holy Spirit lead men into the 
truth? The path probably varies with each soul. 
The Paraclete comes directly to an individual in 
his own consciousness, and indirectly through other 
individuals, through the written word, through the 
church and other institutions, through various ele- 
ments in his environment. He uses all these means 
to stimulate, if not sometimes even to compel, to 
thought, to reflection, to brooding. He gives none 


THE SPIRIT AS GUIDE 


105 


of these means authority. He is the authority re- 
quiring the soul to see the truth by its own ability 
to discern it. 

Seven important truths have been mentioned 
above as belonging to the mission of the Spirit of 
truth. He may use any one of these as a doorway 
of approach to the others. For instance, as one 
proceeds in life he finds the meaning of his ex- 
perience seemingly more obs-cure instead of plainer. 
His attention is thus called to it, as it more and 
more baffles his power of discernment. With the 
consciousness of the problem comes an increase of 
attention to the subject until at last some day his 
experience is suddenly illuminated. As the result 
of this illumination much knowledge of other 
truths belonging to the Christian life comes to him. 
Wisdom for conduct flashes into his soul. Duty 
becomes luminous. The Fatherhood of God be- 
comes real. God himself is felt to be the supreme 
reality. 

Thus the Spirit uses the normal action of the 
human soul. Whatever He may do moving in the 
subconscious regions of the mind, He also uses the 
entire environment of a person. In the soul He 
uses largely the man’s willingness to know the 
truth. Indeed, while the Holy Spirit is the indis- 
pensable agent and authority external to the man, 
the indispensable condition on the part of the man 
is his willingness to know the truth; it is sympathy 
for truth. 


106 


THE SUPREME NEED 


All that has been said implies that the truth is 
not merely an intellectual conception, even of 
reality. The reality is God and what God is for 
man. And the knowledge of what God is for man 
is really attained only through personal fellowship 
with him. The realization of this fact and the 
apprehension, in part, of its meaning come only 
through experience, in which the Holy Spirit is 
the guiding agent, and in which the human spirit 
is receptive and docile. The reality of God — the 
truth — thus becomes known by men who would live 
normal lives; who would not live a lie; who are 
singlehearted and openminded, pure in heart; who 
would live the truth. Thus is the heart of a man 
open to new truths, and to new aspects of old 
truths. 

These great truths of redemption demand the 
Holy Spirit as their supreme interpreter. Closely 
related to them are the facts belonging to the pro- 
duction of that literature which we call the Bible. 
The guidance of the Holy Spirit is as indispensable 
in the literary study of the Bible as in the study of 
any truth. 

It might be said that literature is an objective 
fact and is to be studied objectively. Even though 
the statement be accepted, it must also be said that 
no great literature is impersonal, and therefore a 
great literature cannot successfully be studied like 
an impersonal science such as mathematics. 

The connection between the life from which a 


THE SPIRIT AS GUIDE 


107 


literature originated and that literature is such that 
the life must be understood, else the literature fails 
of due appreciation. No life can be understood 
without a sympathetic appreciation of the forces 
operative in that life. All this is true of every 
literature. Would a man understand Greek litera- 
ture? Then must he have or gain a sympathetic 
appreciation of the reaching out for beauty and 
rationality and the striving for unfettered move- 
ment in every mode of activity which were among 
the leading forces in Greek life. 

Likewise in the study of Israel’s literature it is 
necessary to have a sympathetic appreciation of the 
forces which were molding the life and giving 
character to the literature of Israel. This necessity 
is greater than in Greek literature, for Israel’s lit- 
erature is so meager in comparison with that of 
Greece. Often there is a mere hint of Israel’s life 
where there is full expression of that of Greece. A 
mind that has come into full sympathy with the 
Spirit of truth is alone competent to interpret the 
Bible and to understand the life from which it came. 
For this reason the Spirit is an indispensable guide 
in the literary study of the Bible. The genuinely 
scientific attitude of mind with freedom from 
prejudice is needed. This attitude of mind is per- 
fected only when it has received that delicacy and 
sureness of perception which can come only by full 
submission to the influence of the sanctifying Spirit 
who is the Spirit of truth. 


XIII 


The Fruit of the Spirit 

I N Gal. v. 22 f. the fruit of the Spirit is con- 
trasted with the works of the flesh. It is 
possible that the apostle saw something mu- 
tually exclusive and antagonistic in the several 
works of the flesh, and something harmonious and 
unified in the fruit of the Spirit, since he uses the 
noun in the singular. At all events the use of the 
singular deserves especial notice. In the case of 
the works of the flesh there are expressions de- 
noting conduct manifesting the inner attitude to- 
ward one’s fellow men, and some expressions de- 
noting the inner attitude itself. It is probable that 
by the fruit of the Spirit the writer meant to in- 
clude both conduct and inner attitude toward other 
men. Some of these qualities belong without ques- 
tion to the Christian life among men, and unless 
it is indicated otherwise by the words themselves, 
or the context, all qualities should be so understood. 

They are the manifestations of the life of the 
Spirit within the human life. They are an organic 
development of the mind of the Spirit when the 
Spirit is followed as the Guide of life, or when the 
Spirit is allowed to be the inspiring source of life. 
108 


THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT 109 

In the enumeration of the different qualities of 
the fruit love comes first. Love, to God ? Suppose 
it were love to God, it could not stop there. God’s 
Fatherhood means . human brotherhood. Unless 
there is brotherhood the Fatherhood has no reality 
in life. Therefore this must mean directly or in- 
directly love to fellowmen. Because they are God’s 
children, because Christ died for them, because the 
Spirit who dwelt in Jesus dwells also in us, we 
share the work of Jesus, and love them for whom 
he worked, because he loved them. 

Respecting love as a fruit of the Spirit we find 
(Ro. xv. 30, Col. i. 8) that it is fundamental as a 
motive in the Christian life. It stands at the head 
of the list as the moving principle of all the rest. 
It means an unselfish interest in the welfare of 
others, freedom from vindictiveness, and from self- 
assertion, from desire to grasp preeminence among 
our fellows. It means a readiness to supply and 
anticipate the needs (or rightful claims) of others, 
making this ministry to others our life business, 
with fullest forgiveness for merely personal in- 
juries. 

Joy was a characteristic of the Christian religion 
both in the preparatory stage, Ps. xxxv. 9, xliii. 4, 
Isa. li. 16, e.g. where the prophet rejoices in God 
whom he finds to be the good of his life. For Paul 
it was a duty and it should be one of the constant 
features of every Christian life, 1 Thes. v. 16, Phil, 
iii. 1. The Christian’s faith is a constant source of 


110 


THE SUPREME NEED 


joy, Phil. i. 25, Ro. xv. 13; so also is his hope, 
Ro. xii. 1 2, and the assurance of salvation, 1 Pet. 
i. 8. Persecutions or sufferings for the sake of 
Christ may be taken as evidence of fellowship with 
him, and should therefore be accepted with joy, 
Mt. v. nf., Acts v. 41, Phil. i. 9, Ja. i. 2. Thus 
it comes to be a participation in the joy of Jesus, 
Jo. xv. 11, xvii. 13. Because one is in this fellow- 
ship one may even rejoice under temptation. Fur- 
ther, joy can find expression in the Christian love 
which rejoices in the joy of others. 

In all this joy the self-centered life has no place. 
These experiences belong to the life of which the 
Holy Spirit is the formative principle and ruler. 
Thus, if the Scriptures were silent respecting the 
relation of Christian joy and the Spirit, we should 
feel warranted in attributing it to His operations 
in the heart. 

Apart from the passage where joy is named as a 
part of the fruit of the Spirit it is connected with 
Him in a special manner. Joy is a special gift 
of the Spirit when coming in the midst of tribula- 
tion, 1 Thes. i. 6. Indeed we may affirm that only 
as one lives in the sphere of the life of the Spirit 
can he rejoice under such conditions. And by 
virtue of His presence joy may abound in the midst 
of outward circumstances (2 Co. vi. 10) which 
might cause grief, since in spite of these outward 
circumstances one may promote the welfare of 
others. Thus necessary did the New Testament 


THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT 111 


writers find the connection between the Holy Spirit 
and Christian joy. And coming thus from the 
Holy Spirit joy is for Christians an essential ele- 
ment of the kingdom of God, Ro. xiv. 17. 

Peace, the third of the list, is that harmony 
within one’s personality resulting from harmony 
with God. Peace was a feature pledged under the 
old covenant as a prime feature of the Messianic 
times. 

How largely it bulked in the minds of the early 
Christians may be seen from the facts that seven 
times in the New Testament God is called the God 
of peace; that the apostolic benedictions and greet- 
ings include peace as one of the blessings of God; 
and that in his farewell Jesus promised to give the 
disciples his own peace. 

It is noteworthy that one of the most striking 
descriptions of the work of Jesus is that of preach- 
ing peace to those who were far off and those that 
were nigh (Eph. ii. 17). Most happy is such a 
passage as Phil. iv. 7, where the peace of God is 
the means of guarding the heart and mind in Christ 
Jesus. It means a power of God manifested in the 
human heart which is more efficacious to give rest- 
fulness to the heart in the midst of untoward sur- 
roundings than all efforts of the human reason. 
Such peace and joy and love in the Holy Spirit 
are the essentials of the kingdom of God (Ro. 
xiv. 17) ; “ they are a golden cluster of ripened 
graces.” 


112 


THE SUPREME NEED 


The fourth in this list is longsuffering, “ a long 
holding out of the mind before it gives room to 
action or passion ” and “ a self-restraint that does 
not hastily retaliate a wrong.” Its contrary is 
quickness to anger and revenge. This quality is 
not a quality of the “ natural ” man who, if he re- 
strains himself from immediate retaliation, does 
so in order that he may more effectively inflict re- 
venge at a later time. The mastery of this first 
impulse must be attributed to the influence of the 
Spirit. Patience in bearing the sufferings caused 
by others, mildness and slowness in punishing, 
gentleness and meekness in dealing with those who 
treat us unjustly are qualities which have to be 
cultivated, and can be properly cultivated in the 
atmosphere of love which the Spirit provides for 
us. 

This quality is one of God’s own peculiar glories 
according to the Old Testament, Ex. xxxiv. 6, Nu. 
xiv. 1 8, Neh. ix. 17, Ps. lxxxvi. 15, ciii. 8, cxlv. 
8, Joel ii. 13, Jonah iv. 2, Nah. i. 3. Since this 
is one of God’s peculiar glories, man’s partaking 
of the divine nature surely becomes evident when 
his conduct shows the presence of this fruit of the 
Spirit. 

In 2 Co. vi. 6 Paul, describing the mode in which 
the apostles commend themselves as God’s min- 
isters, associates the qualities of longsuffering and 
graciousness as in Gal. v. 22 and in the list in 
Col. iii. 12. 


THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT 113 


The next in the list under the fruit of the Spirit 
is kindness, or graciousness. This quality, as has 
been said, is mentioned in the same list as long- 
suffering in Col. iii. 12, and in 2 Co. vi. 6 it is 
named, as here in Gal. v. 22, immediately after 
longsuffering. These two are evidently in Paul’s 
mind closely associated in nature or manifestation. 

What is this kindness, or graciousness? The 
corresponding adjective is used (Mt. xi. 30) of 
the yoke as opposed to burdensome and is trans- 
lated “ easy.” Also it is used in Eph. iv. 32 of 
the attitude of Christians toward one another and 
is translated “ kind.” In the kindred exhortation, 
Col. iii. 12, the noun is translated kindness (per- 
haps better kindliness), one of the qualities with 
which Christians are to clothe themselves. “ Be- 
nevolence and sweetness of disposition as shown 
in intercourse with one another.” 

This quality is sometimes thought of with con- 
tempt for it seems to have the harmlessness of the 
dove with none of the wisdom of the serpent. It 
is worthy of contempt if it excludes righteous in- 
dignation against sin and the willingness to punish 
it. This exclusion marks it as a degenerate quality. 
When thus degenerated it is no excellence at all. 
It is described by Menander : “ That which is called 
kindness by some, surrenders the whole of life to 
evil, For none of the unrighteous meet with 
retribution.” 

This quality in its excellence was manifested by 


114 


THE SUPREME NEED 


Jesus in his reception of the penitent woman, Lk. 
vii. 37-50, and in all deeds of mercy. 

The fruit of the Spirit includes goodness, up- 
rightness of heart mentioned also in Ro. xiv. 15, 
Eph. v. 9, and 2 Thes. i. 11. Jesus displayed this 
quality when he drove the buyers and sellers from 
the temple (Mt. xxi. 13), when he denounced 
scribes and Pharisees (Mt. xxiii), and when he 
reproved the censorious host at the time of his 
kind reception of the penitent woman, Lk. vii. 
40-47. 

This quality is moral goodness in active manifes- 
tation. Untempered by kindness it may degenerate 
into harshness; even as also kindness unstrength- 
ened by goodness degenerates into flabby good 
nature. 

Next in the fruit is fidelity, “ the quality which 
attracts the confidence of others. ,, Here again we 
meet with a quality often attributed to God. In 
the Old Testament the faithfulness of God is em- 
phasized. When writing to the Romans Paul asked 
in a striking manner, “ Shall their want of faith 
make the faithfulness of God without effect? ” (Ro. 
iii. 3). It is also the proper quality of a servant. 
Tit. ii. 10. Indeed the phrase “place of trust ” 
designates an immense number of relations in hu- 
man life which force this quality into the fore- 
ground. In some of his parables Jesus showed the 
importance of this quality from the point of view 
of self-interest. Faithfulness in dealing with a few 


[THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT 115 

things was the condition which secured promotion 
to the honor of managing greater responsibilities. 

Here a larger domain of human life is brought 
to view. It means all that belongs to the life of the 
Spirit. It is the faithfulness of the steward who 
is entrusted with mysteries of the Gospel. It is 
the faithfulness of the Christian who accounts him- 
self an ambassador for Christ in his words and in 
his daily life. It is the faithfulness of the man who 
recognizes the meaning of life and its seriousness 
and who will not willingly fall short of its obliga- 
tions. Here again we find a contribution to the 
fruit of the Spirit in that real though intangible 
entity called across the water, “ the Nonconformist 
conscience/’ and in this country, “ the New Eng- 
land conscience.” 

Next, meekness, a quality on which Jesus pro- 
nounced a beatitude, promising, as did the Psalmist, 
that it would bring the inheritance of the earth. 
There are several passages where this quality is 
named in a group of Christian virtues some of 
which have already been discussed. 

Longsuffering and meekness have enough com- 
mon ground to receive comparison and discrimina- 
tion. Long ago a commentator who spoke Greek and 
wrote Greek made this distinction between the two; 
longsuffering causes a man not to act from anger, 
but with deliberation and prudence to inflict a suit- 
able punishment; meekness leads him to omit it 
altogether. 


116 


THE SUPREME NEED 


This quality is one seen elsewhere in human life. 
In this regard it is unlike Christian love which 
exists only as an immediate sharing of that love 
which brought Jesus Christ as the divine gift for 
the salvation of men. Meekness is a quality already 
in human life, but as a fruit of the Spirit it is 
raised to a nobler level. It will suggest itself per- 
haps that all the other qualities which have been 
discussed have some sort of manifestation, how- 
ever imperfect, in the life that is not of the Spirit. 
The self-sacrificing love of a mother in its sphere 
is the normal outworking, in the natural life, of 
that quality which may be taken as a type of the 
divine love which includes all the universe known 
by man. So to an imperfect and limited degree all 
the qualities which we have discussed are purified 
qualities which, in less worthy modes, are mani- 
fested in the life not of the Spirit. He constituted 
man at the beginning so that he might develop 
these qualities, as He does when life is normal. 
In the life of the Spirit these qualities are purified 
and the range of their manifestation is broadened 
in every direction. 

Meekness is a quality which might be worthy or 
unworthy. It is commonly close to that lack of 
spirit which does not, or cannot, rise to anger, even 
when the lack of anger becomes positively unright- 
eous. It comes close to that spurious kindness 
characterized above in the quotation from Me- 
nander. It is a quality by which a man retains his 


THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT 117 


equanimity and composure in trying circumstances, 
by avoiding the anger or resentment which would 
be natural if not even justifiable. It may be an 
easy goodnatured peaceableness that avoids fric- 
tion with others at whatever cost. It is the opposite 
of fierceness, harshness, of severity. It becomes a 
noble virtue because the humility of Jesus was 
based on the sense of absolute dependence upon 
God for existence and a free acknowledgment of 
Him as the source of all good. With us sinners 
likewise humility confesses this dependence but it 
also involves the confession of sin, and of our real 
relation with God, not only as being dependent but 
also as unworthy to claim His gifts. 

Next is self-control. The man with this quality 
properly developed masters all impulses whether 
from self-interest or passion; all the unruly desires 
of the ego; he curbs their manifestations, he with- 
holds himself from indiscretion and excesses. 

It is a man’s strong grip on himself, not wholly 
in restraint of the turbulent forces within the self, 
not wholly in keeping proper forces of the soul 
within bounds, but also in holding the self steadily 
in the path of duty in spite of shrinking. 

The corresponding verb is translated (i Co. ix. 
25) “exerciseth self-control” (1611 “ is temper- 
ate”) where it is used of self-control in the train- 
ing preliminary to the competitions of the games. 
Ten months’ special training was taken by those 
preparing to compete in these Grecian games with 


118 


THE SUPREME NEED 


which the Corinthians were most familiar, and it 
was customary to plan for these games from 
youth. The trained youth had a freedom in using 
his physical powers which the untrained man could 
not know. Self-control denotes an inner freedom 
in the life of a man who is not enslaved to un- 
worthy desires, who has mastered inner conflicts, 
who is free to live the normal life so as to realize 
the best and highest capacities in his nature. In 
truth where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. 
He that has self-control has real freedom. 

The presence of the fruit of the Spirit means 
that thought, conduct, worship and social relations 
are all so filled with the indwelling Spirit that an 
unchristian attitude or abnormal living is wholly 
excluded. 


XIV 


The Natural Powers and the Fruit of the 
Spirit 

T HE fruit of the Spirit and all His gifts are 
conditioned on human activity or recep- 
tivity. They are bestowed, they come, not 
regardless of the action of the human will, nor re- 
gardless of the socalled natural powers of man. 

When God made man in his own image, he vir- 
tually pledged himself to deal with him according 
to the nature which he had given him, namely, to 
deal with him under the conditions and restrictions 
imposed by the power of man’s free choice. Com- 
pulsory virtue is felt, when the terms are under- 
stood, to be a contradiction in terms. It is of the 
very essence of righteousness, of holy character, 
that it is of free choice, not of compulsion. As 
already indicated in treating of the moving of the 
Holy Spirit toward seeking normal satisfaction in 
one’s development there are limits sometimes fixed 
by the human will beyond which no influence of 
the Holy Spirit reaches. So God may place his 
gifts on man’s open palm, his Spirit may stir all 
sorts of desires, but man must contribute some- 
thing, at least the choice to accept the offered good. 
119 


120 


THE SUPREME NEED 


Thus the whole of the fruit mentioned in Gal. 
v. 22f., except joy, is quite directly conditioned on 
the action of the human spirit. Some qualities are 
distinctly the forthputting of an energetic will. 
Self-control is the attitude of the person holding 
his whole being in subjection to his better self. 
Forbearance is likewise a self-restraint under great 
provocation, and with an energy of will which 
smothers into quietness those impulses to which the 
abnormal second nature is fain to give way. 
Fidelity is not less a matter of the will. Love 
toward men, kindness and meekness, are all the at- 
titude of the will and the resultant frame of mind 
in which the will and feelings are fused together 
in disposition and conduct. Peace as regards men, 
the spirit of harmony and the disposition to main- 
tain it (if this be the meaning in the passage), in- 
volves habitual action of the will. Joy, the feeling 
which results from harmony with God, is indirectly 
the result of action of the will. It is the necessary 
sequel of the normal conduct of a person who is 
in his normal relations. Right conduct is the nor- 
mal operation of the human spirit when fully under 
the influence of the Holy Spirit. Joy is the testi- 
mony of the Spirit in the human spirit to that 
harmony. 

The fruit of the Spirit is due to the cooperation 
of the human and the Divine spirits. Alone, the 
human spirit is unable to accomplish even that which 
is normal to it. It brings capacity; it brings tend- 


THE NATURAL POWERS 


121 


ency; it brings a constitution the constituent ele- 
ments of which come into harmony with one an- 
other only by the fruition in life and conduct of 
these qualities or habits just enumerated. Because 
the development comes under the impulse and help 
of the Spirit they are rightly called the fruit of 
the Spirit. 

This fruit is also called his gift, because he pre- 
sides over and renders operative within us those 
spiritual processes which give a normal result in 
life and character. The fruit belongs to the life 
which is growing toward the state of preparedness 
to see God, or the life which is perfecting holiness 
in the fear of God. Thus when we consider life 
as an organic growth, as a whole, we see how the 
capacities of the human spirit, themselves a gift 
from the Divine, develop and come into their nor- 
mal fruitage under the influence of the original 
giver. 

We must remember also, or rather must never 
let fall out of our conscious recognition, the fact 
that all added gifts and the fruit of the Spirit are 
not unconditioned. As we have seen they depend 
on the action of the human will which can not be 
left out any more than the divine will. Indeed 
the process in which the human will is thus in- 
volved has already been properly called the battle 
of sanctification. One of Paul's favorite represen- 
tations was that of the athlete. 


XV 


How Do the Gifts of the Spirit Come? 

G RANTING the good will of the man, how 
do the gifts come? Suppose he is entirely 
ready to receive them, by what mode of 
approach, or entrance, do the gifts of the common 
Christian life come to him? 

A study of the peace of Christ which he promised 
to his disciples may be taken to exemplify all gifts. 
At the outset it may be premised that it was not 
an accident but an essential relation between facts 
that brought this promise close to the other prom- 
ise to send them the Comforter. Therefore we do 
not hesitate to say that the fulfilment of the promise 
of peace is a part of the ministry of the Spirit. 
Jesus promised not as the world promised; he 
promised it with all sincerity and with the intention 
of promoting the welfare of his disciples, and with 
abundant power and resource for the fulfilment of 
the promise. Was not the Spirit to be his perma- 
nent representative? 

Not only did he give in a manner different from 
the giving of the world, but he gave what the 
world could not give, if it would. The peace which 
the world could give consisted at the best merely 
122 


GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT 


123 


in an outward prosperity. The world desires an 
untroubled state of things, a state in which all de- 
sires are satisfied, in which no uneasiness remains. 
Men strive for that stable condition of things in 
which they enjoy life in an unruffled calm of se- 
cure happiness. Prosperity thus depends upon the 
abundance of things which men possess. Ease, 
comfort, the enjoyment of things give the peace for 
which they seek. 

Far different is the peace of Jesus which he 
promised. He had not where to lay his head. 
When he uttered this promise he was a hunted 
man. For months his life had not been secure 
from hostility. He was certain of a .speedy death 
by violence. Whatever his peace was, it did not 
belong to the externals of his life. It was within 
him; it must therefore have been a part of him- 
self, for it belonged to the region of spirit, to the 
realm of his personality. 

It was therefore not a freedom from pain and 
suffering. It was not a stoical indifference to them. 
He could feel both anger with men, and compas- 
sion for them when they deliberately hardened 
themselves against the love which he was manifest- 
ing to them. He could burst into tears at the 
tomb of Lazarus, and lament over Jerusalem with 
a heart full of grief. He suffered, being tempted. 

His peace therefore was not a freedom from 
pain, but it was due to the power to meet the pain 
and master it. This has an analogy in the phys- 


THE SUPREME NEED 


m 

ical life, which has the strength to conquer during 
many years all the conditions adverse to health, 
conditions causing disease and death when the 
physical vigor has diminished. Thus the life of the 
Spirit was so mighty in Jesus that none of the 
things which came to him could weaken him for 
the task which he had accepted as his Father’s will. 
This mighty tide of life in him was the source of 
his peace. Indeed peace was but one of the re- 
sults of this abounding life: his sonship, his joy, 
his enthusiasm for humanity were other results. 

This life of the Spirit was that which he came to 
impart, and it is the source of peace such as his. 
It came from a perfect harmony of his will with 
that of the Father who is the source of life. His 
disciples were to receive life as he did, directly 
from this same divine source. No secondary 
sources, no human wills, no things were to be their 
reliance for peace. He who comes into harmony 
with the will of the all wise and Holy Father, of 
the God who is love, has a foundation for peace 
more stable than the world can give or find. He 
will have a power of life to rise above pain. When 
keenest anguish came to Jesus it found no spiritual 
unsoundness in him or weakness which could be- 
come a means for marring the innermost serenity 
of his being. The Spirit who dwelt in him not by 
measure desires to dwell in us also, and to make 
it possible for us to enter into such a oneness with 
the Father that we shall have the life that we need. 


GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT 


125 


Thus may life become in us a mighty river, which 
cannot be fettered as the streamlets which men use 
as they will. 

Because he was at one with God’s will Jesus was 
in harmony with the permanent forces of the uni- 
verse. He might be crucified, then Satan falls 
from the place of power which he had achieved! 
He might go into the grave, the power of the 
Eternal brings him forth and a new power of life 
begins to fill the world! 

The peace which Jesus gave his disciples comes 
from spiritual health, from abundance of life, from 
union with the source of life through the agency 
of the Spirit. Thus come all the gifts of the 
Spirit, thus comes the whole of His fruit. No 
other hope is there for man : but this cannot fail. 


XVI 


Sanctifying Grace and Efficiency in Service 

I N theory at least, the majority of Christians 
have a decided conviction that the presence of 
the Spirit is necessary or essential if they are 
to be efficient in Christian work. In a lesser de- 
gree they recognize His importance in Christian 
living. 

Unfortunately there are too many who seem to 
think that the one thing that is a gift of the Holy 
Spirit is to be found only in evangelistic services. 
Without doubt some of the most striking exhibi- 
tions of His power occur in connection with such 
services. Hence comes the frequent iteration of 
the word “ power ” whenever the gift of the Holy 
Spirit is mentioned. The common application of 
the word is to the effectiveness of an evangelist as 
a witness for Jesus. This thought is true enough 
if it is not taken to express the whole truth. Even 
if the word power belonged solely to effectiveness 
of evangelistic testimony or utterances, the forces 
which condition this power may be analyzed, and 
it will be found that they are the gifts of the Spirit. 
It is certain that many a devoted servant of 
126 


SANCTIFYING GRACE 


m 

God has lived a life of power, but has failed to 
recognize the fact because he has never clearly 
seen how many and varied the gifts of the Spirit 
are. 

Is it reasonable to suppose that God lays any 
kind of work upon his servants without placing 
within their reach the equipment for their special 
task? Does not the work of the kingdom demand 
the greatest variety of service? Why should not 
a person look for some gift corresponding to the 
task which he has before him? 

When one considers the elements which are the 
necessary conditions of efficiency, no matter what 
the type of Christian service may be, he cannot fail 
to recognize the fact that the most fundamental 
condition is a broad foundation in Christian living. 

The gifts of the Spirit which promote the per- 
sonal life also lay the broad foundation for effi- 
ciency in any of the great evangelistic agencies. 
The fact is recognized that a great genius in lit- 
erature is not an independent individual. He would 
be powerless and dumb but for a multitude of peo- 
ple whose experiences and efforts have provided 
him with material for utterance, and trained his 
power of expression. In like manner the lives and 
experiences of Christians are an indispensable con- 
dition for the effectiveness of an evangelist’s mes- 
sage. He speaks for them, they illustrate and prove 
his words. Unless they do this his message falls 
powerless. 


128 


THE SUPREME NEED 


Commonly, we may believe, the Spirit’s presence 
securing efficiency is in the unconscious power of 
a life thoroughly loyal to Christ. That which the 
earnest Christian seeks in his service is effectiveness. 
He does not weary himself with striving for “ ef- 
fect,” but he is desirous of winning others to choose 
a Christian life, to achieve a Christian character, 
to enter into full and abundant life. A man may 
have a consciousness of power, or of a masterful 
personality, or he may receive credit for accom- 
plishing great results; but if he is a worthy disciple 
his one desire is to yield Jesus Christ that service 
which is due to his Master. He hopes that this 
service may be a blessing to other souls. He knows 
full well that the Spirit may cause his service to be 
effective, even though he never has any sense of 
uncommon power, and does not even know of any 
fruits of his work. God rarely puts his servants 
to this extreme test. Nevertheless, in this phase of 
the Spirit’s presence, the Christian has no conscious- 
ness of any special power, and never knows more 
than a small portion of the good which he does. 
The power attends his labors, and thus fulfils the 
promise of Jo. xvi. 7ff. 

This power comes by indirection, as a result of 
a man’s yielding to the sanctifying presence of the 
Holy Spirit in his soul. In proportion as the 
sanctifying grace of the Spirit is vigorous in a 
man’s life, in that proportion is the man fitted to 


SANCTIFYING GRACE 129 

be used and to have his service accompanied by 
this power of which he knows nothing. 

The necessity of this sanctifying grace as the 
condition of efficiency is constantly increasing. 
God has always used such instruments for his 
work as were at hand. He has granted them that 
measure of efficiency which they were capable of 
receiving, that is such a degree as the limitations 
of their spiritual and moral life permitted. It 
might be that their surroundings were such that 
their limitations fitted them the better for the task 
at hand, and the conditions under which it must be 
done. The moral character that in earlier days 
seemed not inharmonious with the working of the 
Spirit is now seen to be quite at variance with the 
holiness of the Spirit. As society is more com- 
pletely christianized, an increasing perfection of 
the agents of the Spirit, in their character at least, 
is needed, in order that the agent may not seem so 
inharmonious with his task as to cripple his effect- 
iveness. The fruit of the Spirit must be plainly 
and conspicuously present in the life of the person 
who is to be conspicuously effective in Christian 
service. This is true whether he is conscious of 
his efficiency or not. 

At this point we may note the fact that Chris- 
tianity has, by its very successes, created new diffi- 
culties in the way of its success, and even produced 
obstacles that become increasingly difficult to over- 


come. 


130 


THE SUPREME NEED 


Christianity was opposed at the outset on the 
ground that it claimed to be a religion suitable for 
all men, for it taught that all men were brethren. 
But the Christian teaching at which Celsus mocked 
is a commonplace for modern life, and this is due 
to the work of the church in the past. Now the 
church has the greater difficulty of making this 
commonly accepted principle of human brotherhood 
an actual and universal practice of life. The church 
must master this task and secure its perfect realiza- 
tion else it will find itself rejected, as the ancient 
Jewish church was rejected, and some as yet un- 
recognized wild-olive branch will be grafted in. 

Thus fuller measures of the Spirit are needed so 
that the enthusiasm of humanity, the passion for 
Christlike service, shall fill the hearts of men. 

Again, Christianity meets Mohammedanism, 
Buddhism, and other religions with a claim of su- 
periority, of being the one perfect religion. These 
others, looking over their own writings, find truths 
there stated which they had neglected, and gird 
themselves for comparison and supremacy at least 
in their own homes. The supremacy will rest at 
last where the best lives are found. The superiority 
of Christianity will become manifest if what is now 
the highest, the best, and we regret to say the ex- 
ceptional, shall become the universal type of Chris- 
tian living; so that the very lowest shall advance 
to where the highest now is, and the highest shall 
advance still higher. Faith, aspiration, the fulness 


SANCTIFYING GRACE 


131 


of sonship, righteousness, the entire fruit of the 
Spirit, and the passion for Christ will one day so 
rule that they will achieve far greater conquests in 
the spirits of men than have yet been witnessed. 
Then will the religion of redemption show its su- 
premacy. 

Here is the crowning struggle before Christianity 
for the mastery of the world. There can be no 
substitutes for the ordinary virtues of the Christian 
life as the substance of all our living. Without 
them all is in vain; with them victory is assured. 


XVII 


Other Gifts, Courage, Strength, Prayer, 
Guidance 

S OME gifts are for both the life of the in- 
dividual and his service in the kingdom. For 
this reason they may well be considered at 
this point. In these the blending of the constitu- 
tional capacity of a person with the development 
of that capacity is evident as in the gifts previously 
mentioned. As has already been declared, the be- 
ginning of a life, of a being with capacity of de- 
velopment, is due to the Holy Spirit. The nature 
adapted to a normal development is a part ol the 
constitution given at the outset by the Spirit as a 
cosmic Power. Life itself, the accomplishment of 
the normal destiny of a being, is also due to the 
presence of the Spirit. 

If one were to recapitulate all the workings of 
the Spirit, he could simply enumerate the tokens 
of the real or higher life of the human soul, for 
everywhere the Holy Spirit is impelling the man 
toward the normal destiny of his being, aiding him 
toward its realization and producing as normal re- 
sults all the fruit of the Spirit and all His gifts. 
Life, its activity, the restless seeking for a goal, 
132 


OTHER GIFTS 


133 


the striving for expression all are due to the life- 
giving presence of the S irit. Actual attainment 
of the goal, actual normal' living, actual success are 
due to the guidance of the Spirit, and are condi- 
tioned on conscious obedience to the Spirit. 

In facing the tasks of life one of the most im- 
mediate needs is courage. What need of the 
apostles was more pressing in the days after Pente- 
cost than courage? How many times they faced 
hostile audiences! How often must it have seemed 
hopeless to utter a single word of the truth for 
which they were set to witness! Again and again 
it is said that they were filled with the Holy Spirit 
and spake. Their freedom in speaking is attributed 
to the Holy Spirit. Moreover Paul felt that earnest 
prayer in the Spirit by others on his behalf would 
help to secure such boldness. 

We find, then, that courage for this one specific 
duty of full utterance of the Gospel truth attended 
the presence of the Spirit. It is not conceivable 
that this duty was the only one which required 
courage. Neither is it to be doubted that when- 
ever the performance of duty requires courage, the 
obedient soul may look for the Holy Spirit to sup- 
ply the want. He will stir up the energy within. 
He will give the sense of the presence of God sup- 
porting the man. When the sense of the divine 
presence is strong, how can courage fail ? “ The 

Lord Jehovah hath spoken, who can but 
prophesy ? ” 


134 * 


THE SUPREME NEED 


Full courage has an element of eagerness. The 
longing for the accomplishment of a task from 
which the flesh shrinks can yet fill the timid soul 
with eagerness for the realization of an ideal. 
Hence arises Christian joy in the midst of a hard 
task, and also power from the Spirit enabling a 
man to overcome his besetting sins. It is the func- 
tion of the Spirit to give energy to the entire ethi- 
cal nature of a man. As a natural result, when 
his life brings the Christian into hardships, the func- 
tion of the Spirit is to transform suffering into joy, 
and reproach into glory. Thus does the Holy 
Spirit give courage for whatever is involved in the 
Christian life. 

There could be little eagerness for the tasks of 
life if there were no ideals for the realization of 
which one might hope. The gift of courage there- 
fore really involves an ideal of worthy life and 
service. 

For some persons the word ideal means some- 
thing vague or nebulous, such a contradiction to 
reality that it suggests nothing definite for the 
thought or action. Whatever may be true respect- 
ing other ideals, Christian ideals are definite. If 
they are not yet actual, they ought to be actual, 
and that as soon as is possible. They rise before 
the mind of the Christian as definite victories over 
sin, definite acts of kindness, or a continuous life 
of beneficence, actual growth toward a definite like- 
ness to Jesus Christ, or toward definite conscious- 


OTHER GIFTS 


135 


ness of fellowship with him, the accomplishment 
of definite service for him. Such are Christian 
ideals. When a soul is responsive to the movings 
of the Holy Spirit the vision of such an ideal kin- 
dles the aspiration to make the ideal actual. 

The Holy Spirit transforms that aspiration into 
a hope. This hope for the realization of Christian 
ideals is a necessary condition of courage. The 
Christian hope lays hold of this earthly life and of 
eternal life, and is due to the presence of the Holy 
Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the chief spring of 
Christian hope and an earnest of eternal life, be- 
cause His present dwelling with the believer is a 
pledge of eternal life. Indeed His presence is the 
beginning of eternal life, because He gives the first 
fruits of our adoption, a pledge of attainment here- 
after of everything that the sonship of God means. 

It is by the Spirit that Christ dwells within us, 
the hope of glory. Hope, which gives men courage 
to undergo all sorts of privations and risks for 
earthly treasures, is equally important for giving 
courage to endure the great fight of afflictions or 
privations which beset us in the Christian life. He 
who has no hope as a sure and steadfast anchor 
can have little courage for the arduous contests 
with his own besetting sins, and with the great 
variety of external obstacles, and the many forms 
of opposition which one must meet in the Chris- 
tian life. The presence of the Spirit, securing also 
the presence of the indwelling Christ, a first fruit 


136 


THE SUPREME NEED 


of the divine life, kindles and maintains a vivid 
anticipation that the gifts already received shall 
forever abide and increase in joy. 

Yet further, hope and courage alike are rooted 
in faith. Faith is absolute and complete confidence 
in God. The desire for this or that definite out- 
come can become a confident hope only when one 
has faith in God, whose attitude toward us is per- 
fect and holy love. We know that no evil out- 
come is possible for us while under his care. Thus 
the knowledge that God is with one can inspire to 
noble daring. This will encourage one to meet 
every emergency. 

The Spirit bestows such gifts, He makes known 
their value. When He changes aspiration into 
hope, which is full of assurance He fills the soul 
with confident anticipation. Thus a man rises above 
the possibility of being ashamed of the Gospel in 
the face of those who would belittle it, or who are 
indifferent; it enables him to despise the shame of 
the cross and even to glory in it. 

Courage for duty needs to be supplemented by 
the gift of strength. Without this added gift cour- 
age would hardly be more than an intense longing 
for results accompanied by ineffective striving. 

The Spirit at this point seems to secure what has 
been called a duplication of the spiritual nature of 
man, since by a superadded intensity of power He 
enables man to attain results which sin has made 
impossible for man’s original endowment to secure. 


OTHER GIFTS 


137 


For that matter the same is true of all the redemp- 
tive work of the Spirit. It is His function as a 
Redemptive Spirit to add this supply at any point 
where man is weak. 

In fact all duties are to be done as from strength 
which God supplies. What a man’s original en- 
dowment was, is never evident for it is weakened 
by sin. It is therefore lost sight of, and the re- 
deemed life is filled with the passion for Jesus 
Christ and every part of the personality is touched 
and vivified by the Holy Spirit. Here is the 
strength of the Christian. 

“ This excellent gift of might arms a man against 
himself, when his natural slothfulness and self- 
indulgence raise their evil heads; it makes him ‘ not 
ashamed of the Gospel of Christ ’ when he finds 
himself in the society of the unbelieving or unsym- 
pathetic; it nerves him to stand for righteousness 
and truth in public affairs and in the clash of con- 
tending opinions that accompanies national crises; 
it braces him to ‘ endure hardness ’ as he takes his 
side and bears his part in Christ’s long quarrel with 
the world; and it gives him fortitude to face 
martyrdom, when the forces of error or unright- 
eousness force it upon him.” (Downer, p. 277). 

So we have strength to endure those testings, or 
external trials which come upon us. The virtue of 
patience is here manifest. It bears up against all 
temptation to discouragement. This quality se- 
cures the blessedness and joy of ultimate triumph 


188 THE SUPREME NEED 

— it was this which enabled Jesus to endure the 
cross. 

The possessor of this gift often can discern the 
nature and purpose of the tests to which he is sub- 
jected, hence he will cheerfully bear them as a part 
of the price he must pay for blessing. When he 
has the faith that is “ the assurance of things hoped 
for and the conviction of things not seen,” strength 
for trial is all the more easy. 

This strength becomes energy for positive ac- 
complishment of results. The Holy Spirit gives 
strength to the man, and makes the object on which 
or toward which he works more yielding to his 
efforts. 

A man’s besetting sins may fall away before him, 
and his struggle, although sharp, may be short and 
decisive; or, it may be, that the thorn in the flesh 
is not removed, so that the struggle may be a life- 
long one, yet a continuous victory may be hoped 
for, so that the divine strength may manifest itself 
perfectly in the human weakness. 

A man’s weakness as of timidity is replaced by 
strength so that a Jeremiah or a Peter may have 
steadiness of courage. The spirit which quailed 
before a maidservant may rise with courage to face 
a Sanhedrin. 

Energy for action may come as a part of the 
gift of strength. All things can be accomplished 
through the strength which Christ gives, so that 
we are more than conquerors. 


OTHER GIFTS 


139 


In this life which the Spirit inspires and guides 
nothing is more fundamental than prayer. In this 
feature of the Christian life the Spirit’s agency is 
noteworthy, for in Him is the proper atmosphere 
of prayer. Not only does He bring to pass the 
reaching out after something better, the semi-con- 
scious longings for the development of that which 
our natures demand, and the longings for the im- 
perfectly apprehended ideals of good, the aspira- 
tions for God’s fellowship, but He gives them a 
value which we cannot; He matures them into ar- 
ticulate utterances, He promotes that fervor and 
sincerity in utterance which makes it wise for God 
to grant th.e answer desired. 

The perception of duty is a call to prayer. The 
desire of a blessing is a summons to prayer. All 
that the Spirit gives — hope, faith, courage, patience, 
strength, energy, are likewise incentives to prayer; 
for only when prayerful has the soul enough in 
common with God to receive fullness of blessing. 
Kinship in mind and character is necessary in order 
that communion with God be possible. It is this 
kinship which makes courage, energy possible and 
real failure impossible. 

Finally, the Spirit gives real guidance for the 
ordinary affairs of life. He makes it possible for 
the believer to be impelled or directed in his com- 
mon duties. Indeed the believer misses great bless- 
ings if he does not seek and expect such guidance. 
This is true because the man devoted to Jesus Christ 


140 


THE SUPREME NEED 


has placed all his life in right relation to the king- 
dom of God and to its service. 

In the New Testament it is made clear that the 
Holy Spirit rules in the activities of the kingdom 
and impels men to engage in such activities (Mt. 
x. 19, 20; Mk. xiii. 1 1 ; Acts viii. 29, 39; x. 19, 20). 
From Him came specific directions as to work un- 
dertaken in behalf of the kingdom (Acts xiii. 2-4; 
xv. 28), and He appointed the persons for such 
work. Not only did He impel and direct work, 
but He hindered his servants from taking a course 
which He did not choose (Acts xvi. 6, 7). 

Since the Spirit gives full guidance to the be- 
liever’s life of service when the believer withholds 
nothing great or small from his life of service, 
surely the Spirit will not fail to give guidance for 
every detail of the life surrendered to Him. 


XVIII 


Gifts for Service 

T HUS far the gifts of the Holy Spirit have 
been considered almost entirely in relation 
to Christian life and character. It is true 
that any individual soul is of such value that God 
might be expected to lavish his gifts in order to 
bring that soul to its normal perfection. It is also 
to be remembered that a person in isolation cannot 
arrive at normal perfection. This comes only in a 
social environment which calls out his powers and 
obtains from him the full service to his fellow men 
of which he is capable. This fact is at the basis of 
the teaching of the 12th and 13th chapters of 1 Co- 
rinthians. Gifts of the Holy Spirit may give in- 
dividual receivers joy, but there is higher joy than 
the joy of receiving and possessing gifts. It is 
found in fulfilment of those obligations which be- 
long to one’s relations as a member of human so- 
ciety. 

Those gifts of the Spirit which work for the 
transformation of the soul also prepare that soul 
for Christian service and give it power in service. 
No discussion of the gifts for service is complete 
which omits the effect of this transforming work 
141 


THE SUPREME NEED 


142 

of the Holy Spirit. There are, however, specific 
gifts for effectiveness and these deserve separate 
mention. Most important among these are the gifts 
of love, wisdom, power and intercessory prayer. 

A primary gift for service is love. For the vast 
majority of Christians love toward their fellow men 
is the chief source of efficiency in Christian service. 
It is most essential and most fundamental. Such 
love was impossible while the soul was self-cen- 
tered. The regenerating grace of the Spirit pre- 
pared for the coming of a love which should give 
warmth and courage, and thus be an impelling 
force in the face of obstacles and opposition. 

The love may be a love growing out of a sense 
of God’s love for men and responding to that love 
with loyalty and devotion. It may be that it is 
kindled more directly by sympathy with God’s love, 
so that it enters into his outreaching toward men. 
In either case it is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, the 
result of His presence, and a sign of His working 
in the soul. 

This love means more than an ordinary fruit of 
the Spirit. It is a participation in the passion of 
Jesus for the redemption of the unsaved. It shares 
the fatherly compassion of God who showers his 
benefits alike upon the just and the unjust. It re- 
members the frames of men — that they are dust. 
It takes as one’s own the woes of men and bears 
their misery for them and with them. Love like 
this is due to the presence of the redemptive Spirit. 


GIFTS FOR SERVICE 


143 


A gift for service whose value follows closely 
after that of love is wisdom. How often we see 
earnest love constantly thwarted by its own unwis- 
dom, an unwisdom which we call lack of common 
sense. What do we mean when we speak of com- 
mon sense? We mean that quality manifested by 
the man who shows a perception of the real nature 
of things, of their true relations, of conduct appro- 
priate to the situation in which he may find him- 
self. He shows a discernment of the proper time 
to act and a correct judgment as to which acts are 
suited to the occasion. He has such a perception, 
such discernment, such judgment, because he per- 
ceives the actual conditions by which he is sur- 
rounded, and also the normal condition. In other 
words he perceives the actual and also holds be- 
fore himself an ideal. He may not think of it as 
an ideal, but rather as that which is fit, proper, use- 
ful, normal, that which ought to be, or would bet- 
ter be. He thinks of the true, or proper relations 
of things as contrasted with the relations which are 
actual. He sees clearly that which is and also that 
which ought to be; he sees also how far the actual 
can be modified in the direction of the ideal. He 
has a sense that there is a best way to effect this 
transition and he feels out after this way and finds 
it, or if he does not find it he makes no attempt to 
do the impossible. This is an abstract statement as 
must be the case in any statement of the funda- 


144 THE SUPREME NEED 

mental qualities of any object or person, human or 
divine. 

Common sense is a keen perception of reality 
and a correct intuition of the conduct which truly 
conforms to reality, whether seen or unseen. It is 
the wisdom of the Old Testament. It is insight 
into common things, a discernment of their mean- 
ing. 

If any part of human life or activity is in peculiar 
need of common sense it is the ethical and religious 
life. Where else is there so great need that a man 
have an accurate perception of reality and of the 
conduct which truly conforms to the supreme 
realities? 

Think of them: God, His Fatherhood, Jesus 
Christ our Redemption, the Holy Spirit our Guide 
and Sanctifier, the friendship possible with God, 
the world of human beings our brethren, as capable 
as ourselves of friendship with God, our brethren 
because they and we were made in the image of 
God. In the presence of all these realities do we 
not need more than elsewhere insight into realities, 
understanding of their relations with ourselves and 
of the conduct befitting these relations? 

It is the fashion to speak of common sense as 
inborn and not acquired, as an original gift and 
not a secondary gift. It is thought of as a gift 
in the truest sense, as something implanted in one’s 
constitution by the creative Spirit who endowed 
us at the outset with whatever capacities for de- 


GIFTS FOR SERVICE 


145 


velopment we may possess. It is an error, how- 
ever, if it is thought that the capacity for common 
sense, or wisdom, is necessarily absent where few 
signs are seen in early life. 

It is a fact that a bumptious boy of fifteen some- 
times becomes a sensible man at thirty. Who has 
not seen a person of marked common sense at the 
age of forty who was a scatterbrain at eighteen? 
In some way, perhaps through bitter experience, he 
came to recognize the realities of life and learned 
to adjust himself to them. Men can learn common 
sense in the school of experience. This shows that 
they had a capacity which was slow in developing. 
It is not correct therefore to say that if a person 
is deficient in common sense his case is hopeless. 

The Spirit can bestow the gift of common sense; 
not by a new creation, but by bringing to pass the 
development of some capacity hitherto perhaps un- 
suspected. 

There is a profounder insight, a deeper sense of 
the fitness of things, than that of which we com- 
monly speak when we use the words “ common 
sense.” It is this same quality when it has become 
a gift of insight into the human heart, when the 
perception is inspired by sympathy, when the sym- 
pathy has been kindled by love. 

When Love and Common Sense thus cooperate 
and heighten each the power of the other the person 
has a wonderful gift of the Spirit. It is well to 
value at the fullest the intellectual conditions of 


146 


THE SUPREME NEED 


successful work. But let them not be valued above 
the spiritual conditions. And further, let it always 
be remembered that the intellectual conditions have 
their highest efficiency when illuminated by the 
spiritual conditions. Again let it be remembered 
that their full presence and efficiency is due to the 
presence of the Holy Spirit giving the man power 
and strengthening him at the points where he needs 
the strength. Thus it comes to pass that the Spirit 
of wisdom and discernment, of counsel (adminis- 
trative efficiency) and of might, of knowledge and 
of the fear of the Lord (piety) gives great effi- 
ciency to those who would serve him. 

The third gift is that of power. The Holy Spirit 
bestows on the man especial effectiveness in service. 
For the most part such power is conditioned on a 
consecrated life. When a man’s life shows un- 
selfish devotion to God it is a law of the Spirit that 
the devotion shall produce conviction of the truth 
in the hearts of other men. When the Spirit can 
impress men with the fact that the hidings of a 
man’s life are with God, that his motives are not 
earthly or earthy, then He gives to that life power. 
The person who has such power may not know 
that he has received it, and he may not consciously 
exercise it. It does not come from the mere effort 
to bear testimony to any truth, nor from an attempt 
to be a witness. It is the power given by the Spirit 
to the reality of the divine life in the man. It is 
the Holy Spirit using that reality as an instrument. 


GIFTS FOR SERVICE 


147 


This is not the power of which many persons 
think as the preeminent gift of the Spirit of power. 
This is not what they mean when they speak of 
Pentecostal power. That is the especial effective- 
ness coveted for evangelistic utterance. Words are 
given convincing power. The person is felt to be 
a messenger from God — a real apostle or prophet, 
speaking for God. The speaker may not be con- 
scious of special power. A speaker with natural 
oratorical power is conscious of his power to move 
the emotions of men, to dominate their thoughts 
for the season, and even at times to sway the wills. 
Pentecostal power is more. The consciousness of 
being used to convince men of sin, righteousness 
and of the judgment is more than the power of the 
skilled orator. A man may be a skilled orator and 
lack this power. If so he will be apt to be con- 
scious of this lack. A man does not need to be a 
skilled orator to be used as an instrument of this 
form of the power of the Spirit. A man may be 
unready in speech, but if he give himself unre- 
servedly to God he can have the conviction that 
God is with him. If he knows that he has put 
himself in line with God’s will it will inspire him 
to noble daring for he knows the divine power will 
take his service for its own ends, and thus make it 
a divine instrument. The man whose dedication 
and faith bring this consciousness, need fear no 
emergency in his life. 

Contributing to this unconscious power and due 


148 


THE SUPREME NEED 


to the presence of the Spirit is the personal fellow- 
ship with Jesus, and the consequent passion for 
him which is a source of strength. It is the fact 
that the Spirit dwells in us in order that Christ 
may dwell in us. The two are inseparable. Noth- 
ing but this indwelling of Christ will lift a man 
into that region where his power will be felt to be 
not of this earth, and against which therefore the 
means and modes of this earthly life cannot avail. 

When a person has this unconscious power evan- 
gelistic utterance becomes all the more incisive and 
persuasive. The Holy Spirit will then become an 
Advocate for him to the world. 

It is possible that a person (as was sometimes the 
case with Finney in his evangelistic work) may 
have the sense of authority because of divine guid- 
ance in particular matters. Of course it is due to 
the realization of what is to be called the indwell- 
ing presence of God. If one had the sense of this 
indwelling would not the sense of power be as- 
sured? Therefore is not the indwelling presence 
to be sought rather than an agonized striving after 
power ? 

Again, there is the gift of prevailing prayer. It 
begins with an intense longing for some spiritual 
good, with a feeling of burden from which one dare 
not turn with indifference, and which can be borne 
only by prayer. The prayer takes all one’s thought 
and strength until a sense of relief comes with a 
hope, sometimes even a conviction, that the prayer 


GIFTS FOR SERVICE 


149 


will surely be answered. At times the feeling is 
an assurance that God has taken the affair into his 
keeping. These experiences, if accepted and not 
evaded, develop in time a consciousness of one 
mode of efficiency in service. 

The highest form of service is that of interces- 
sory prayer. In it we can enter most fully into 
fellowship with Jesus Christ. His priestly prayer 
is an illustration of what belongs to the priesthood 
of believers. The prayer he taught his disciples 
has three intercessory petitions before the petitioner 
asks anything for himself. One of his two parables 
encouraging men to persistence in prayer represents 
the man as shameless in asking a benefit for another. 
In the Old Testament the noblest heights of char- 
acter and service are seen in prayer for others; as 
when Abraham prays for Sodom, Moses for Israel 
and Samuel for Saul. In the cases of Isaiah and 
Daniel God is represented as delighting to answer 
the selfless petitions of men interceding for their 
fellow men. 

Those men were quite as human as we. Without 
doubt they carried their personal and individual 
desires to God. Of these little is said in the record. 
In fact the one personal petition of Moses was de- 
nied, as also the one personal prayer of Paul was 
not answered in the form in which it was 
asked. 

For what may we pray with courage ? 

We may make our prayers part of Christ’s 


150 


THE SUPREME NEED 


prayers for his body, the church, that it may accom- 
plish its mission. 

When the burden of intercessory prayer comes 
upon us we may accept and carry the burden feel- 
ing confident that the Spirit will own such prayer. 

We can always pray for the establishment of 
God’s kingdom : in this prayer it is in order to pray 
for rulers and all in authority and responsibility, 
for thereby may we hope to help decide the great 
questions of human history. We may hope thus to 
work efficiently for the maintenance of peace and 
the cessation of war. 

We may always pray for the removal of hin- 
drances to the progress of the Gospel. We can 
thus efficiently support Christian workers the world 
over. 

We have the right to pray for our own work, 
not simply because it is ours, but because we can- 
not hope to attain full efficiency in it without the 
aid of the Spirit, and because the lack of prayer 
would prove us to be so indifferent to the success 
of the work that the Spirit cannot bestow his gifts 
upon us. 

We may pray for Christians in peculiar need, 
whether on account of temptations, especial trials, 
sickness or burdensome tasks. 

We may pray for immature or inexperienced 
Christians, who can easily make mistakes, or be led 
into error unless wisdom more than human shall 
direct them. 


GIFTS FOR SERVICE 


151 


We may pray for the unsaved. 

This enumeration suggests how large a realm 
there is of this form of Christian service. How fully 
occupied it is, only God could ever know. Probably 
however the prayers of Christians, of such a nature 
as has been stated, are the real measure of the 
efficiency of the work for the redemption of the 
world. It is likely that when the bulk of nominal 
Christians begin to pray in good earnest, the king- 
dom will be hastened more rapidly in its coming. 
For this reason it seems proper to say that no 
choicer gift can come into one’s life than the gift 
of prevailing prayer, and thereby the winning of 
blessings such as have been named. 


XIX 


Natural Powers and the Gifts for Service 

T HE Spirit may be expected to bless a man 
in the use of his natural faculties and to 
render them more efficient. That is, because 
a man is industrious in the use of his natural pow- 
ers they are made more effective by the Spirit. 
For example He doubtless rendered keener the 
judgment of Luke in his examination of evidence 
as he traced the course of occurrences, (Lk. i. 3). 
So also must Timothy study, (2 Ti. iii. 15-17). 

There is no reason to doubt that the gifts of 
efficiency are especially a result of the faithful de- 
velopment and use of a person’s natural capacities. 
These are in a man’s nature as constituted by the 
Holy Spirit in his creative endowment of the man 
as he came into being. 

The law that the faithful use of one’s gifts is 
the basis of enlarged power and effectiveness is 
plainly taught by the Lord in his parables of the 
pounds and of the talents, and it is grounded in 
human nature. For the most part human character 
is unfit to be trusted for high and worthy ends, is 
unfit to be trusted with power until it is matured 
and vigorous as the result of the voluntary endu- 
152 


NATURAL POWERS AND GIFTS 153 


ranee of hardness. The apostle deprecated putting 
a novice into the ministry, lest he should be puffed 
up and fall into the condemnation of the devil; and 
so he exhorted Timothy not to lay hands on any 
man hastily. It is not in harmony with sound 
judgment in ordinary matters to give special power 
to men who have not learned to use ordinary power 
effectively and wisely. 

We must lay stress, therefore, on the primary 
need of efficiency which comes from the faithful 
use and development of a man’s natural capacities. 
These are given and maintained by the Holy 
Spirit, a Cosmic Spirit, and He may be expected to 
honor their proper use and exercise. 

A vague impression seems to be common that 
the gifts and powers of the Spirit are antagonistic 
to the natural powers of a man. This impression 
is due partly to ignorance, and partly to the failure 
to discriminate between the use of one’s natural 
powers relying on self alone, and the equally in- 
dustrious use of the natural powers in full reliance 
upon the Holy Spirit for the proper results. In 
this error it is assumed that a man can be most 
easily used by the Holy Spirit if he places no de- 
pendence upon the natural capacities, and looks to 
God to bestow upon him the needed wisdom for 
action or utterance, at the moment of need. The 
“ power ” becomes cant. It is thought to consist 
in fluent expression of rambling utterance, or in 
volubility of fluent utterance of religious language. 


THE SUPREME NEED 


154 

This is called extempore, and the fact that it is 
uttered with ease is regarded as proof that the 
Spirit gave the person especial aid in its utterance. 
Such a person dishonors the Spirit of God when 
he attributes to Him any share in such a per- 
formance. This vague belief in the readiness of 
the Spirit to seize a man whenever the man will 
let himself go is an excuse for fitful or indolent 
cultivation of one’s natural capacities, and some- 
times for their entire neglect. 

This delusion is fatal as regards the complete 
success of a man in his work. It is no honor to the 
Spirit of God to seek His special gift of power 
while neglecting His permanent gift of capacity. 
Even heathen knew that such a course was un- 
reasonable. A man dishonors the Holy Spirit when 
he neglects the cultivation of his mental powers or 
when he belittles such a cultivation. What reason 
is there to think that a man who thus despises the 
Holy Spirit’s gift of capacity will respect a special 
gift of power, or keep from misusing it? The 
highest cultivation of the natural capacities can be 
a most reverent mode of seeking the superadded 
gift of power, and it is the best sort of pledge that 
the superadded gift will be properly honored, and 
reverently used. The sword is most effective when 
it has keenest edge, the arrow has furthest flight 
and most penetrating power when it is polished. 
Thus was the servant of Jehovah a polished arrow 
(Isa. xlix. 2). 


NATURAL POWERS AND GIFTS 155 


It is true that Christ told his disciples not to 
worry beforehand as to what they should say when 
their persecutors should drag them before heathen 
tribunals; and he told them also that it would not 
be they who spoke in those emergencies, but the 
Holy Spirit. Let no one forget that this was a 
promise for great emergencies, intended to enable 
them to accomplish their ordinary duties with the 
completely untroubled exercise of their ordinary 
powers. It is irrational to make a promise which 
is for great emergencies the ruling principle of or- 
dinary life. The promise for an emergency has 
all the more value, if, in the days when there is no 
emergency, the man shall have used his natural 
capacities to their full extent. The richer the re- 
sources of well-exercised natural capacity, the 
larger variety of effective utterance is presented to 
the Holy Spirit for His use in the time of emer- 
gency. The man who neglects the full development 
of natural capacity, the ordinary gift of God’s 
Spirit, and then offers himself as a candidate for 
the special gifts insults the Holy Spirit in the very 
act. There is no greater peril for the untrained 
Christian worker. In its outcome, it is no more 
reverent than the attitude of him who denies all 
special power, for it is the denial of the value of 
the common gifts of the Spirit. In fact, this idea 
that the Spirit is waiting to use any man, no mat- 
ter how indolent in using his natural gifts, pro- 
vided only that the man calls himself willing to 


156 


THE SUPREME NEED 


receive special gifts, is destructive of reverence both 
on the part of the man who would be used and on 
the part of onlookers. The whole attitude is due 
to ignorance or laziness, and it is a fair question 
if the latter quality is not the greater. 

These natural powers are the fundamental mani- . 
festation of the Holy Spirit in man; they are the 
basis for all redemptive operations, and also for 
the special gifts. There is no antagonism between 
one phase of the Spirit’s presence in man, and any 
other. When a man’s natural powers are in an 
abnormal condition, by reason of sin, the rectifica- 
tion into a normal condition is accomplished by the 
[ Spirit in harmony with natural powers. So each 
of the various phases of the Spirit’s presence with 
the Christian is harmonious with the others, and is 
also auxiliary to all the rest of His gifts, natural 
or special. There is no harmony between the pres- 
ence of the Holy Spirit and the self-sufficiency of 
the defectively sanctified Christian, puffed up with 
intellectual attainments, social gifts or bustling ac- 
tivity. Also, the special presence of the Holy 
Spirit forbids the belittling of the ordinary pres- 
ence of the Holy Spirit as utilized and honored 
by a full development of man’s natural powers. 


XX 


Development of Latent Powers and Special 
Gifts 

I T may seem that men receive special gifts of 
power which apparently are not natural to 
them, and which are not due merely to sancti- 
fying grace and natural powers. 

Does the Spirit create new powers in a man? 
Does He add powers which were not included in 
the man’s original constitution? In answer to this 
question the not wholly unknown development of 
“ latent power ” should be remembered. In almost 
every department of life it happens that at times 
men develop some capacities previously unsus- 
pected. 

An indolent youth is aroused by some catastro- 
phe that has befallen his family and he amazes 
everybody, himself not least, by the abilities which 
pride, ambition, love or some other mighty longing 
calls into manifestation. But for the arousing of 
some intense feeling these capacities would never 
have received the stimulus needed to start them into 
development. In like manner it is not improbable 
that the powers of a Moody would have remained 
dormant, latent, if his longing to become of serv- 
157 


158 


THE SUPREME NEED 


ice in the kingdom had not led him to pray for 
power. The previous exercise of his gifts had laid 
a suitable foundation for that which came upon the 
foundation. New powers were not created, but an 
amazing development of powers already exercised 
went on to a high degree. 

Every person who gives himself with unselfish 
devotion, with intense desire to the work of the 
kingdom, may reasonably hope to develop unused 
powers for a duty which is plainly put before him. 
He who has set the task will see that the qualifica- 
tion is not lacking to him who accepts the task and 
gives his whole heart to it in unselfish obedience to 
the Master. 

The qualification may come with the special gift 
of power or efficiency. It may come from the un- 
expected development of latent power. It may 
come from an unexpected adequacy of powers which 
have been slowly developing for the emergency. 

The Spirit may open the eyes of the disciple to 
the difficulty of his task. The emergency strips the 
man of his self-sufficiency. He loses his self-con- 
fidence. He feels that the task is too great for 
him. At heart he is sincerely devoted to his Mas- 
ter. He rises to selfless obedience and follows the 
Spirit’s guidance. Thus he fulfils the condition for 
which the Spirit of power had been waiting. In 
fact the Spirit had held this gift ready for the man 
until the man himself should have become ready. 
The gift of power is his. 


DEVELOPMENT OF LATENT POWERS 159 


Again, the emergency may kindle desires that are 
mighty enough to unloose some latent energy in the 
man’s nature. The Spirit may give a man a vision 
of the importance of the task set before him. The 
sight of a task and a realization of the urgent need 
of it may give the man motives for attempting that 
which seemed impossible, or “ not worth while.” 

Thus a man may be aroused out of his lethargy; 
his indifference, or unwillingness. The Spirit who 
gave the man these powers latent in his constitution, 
now calls them forth, He unlooses them. Again 
the condition of their exercise is the obedient at- 
tempt to do the thing immediately in sight to be 
done. 

A latent power thus called into activity becomes 
part of a man’s permanent equipment for service. 
In this way the Spirit may sometimes be thought of 
as dwelling in the man. 

The development of latent powers is probably 
yet more frequently accomplished through slow 
processes. In a previous chapter attention was 
called to the amazing development of wisdom or 
common sense which sometimes comes to pass. 
This was through simple openness of mind to facts. 

Open mindedness is one form of obedience to the 
Spirit. It is a mode of selflessness. Wilfulness 
on some subject is bound up in the hearts of most 
men. They are determined to look at facts as they 
desire them to be. This peculiar form of weakness 
is easily seen by onlookers. The fact has been 


160 


THE SUPREME NEED 


recorded in many proverbs in many languages. In 
ours “ the wish is father to the thought ” is well 
known. 

No person can be thoroughly sane, or wise who 
does not see things as they are. Most people must 
do this with some degree of conscious effort. They 
do it by intention. It is one condition of the ordi- 
nary guidance of the Spirit. A man must be will- 
ing to do what he least likes to do and to recognize 
as fact that which he least desires to be fact. Un- 
less this is the case he cannot discern the mind of 
the Spirit. This is the merest commonplace. Yet 
because this particular commonplace is disregarded 
men are constantly left wondering why they are 
without the guidance of the Spirit. 

How shall a man learn which faculties have that 
kind of latency that is capable of development ? Let 
him be open-minded to the fact. Let him not re- 
fuse to see the faculties because he dislikes to make 
the effort to develop them. There is abundant 
reason to believe that numberless men miss their 
highest opportunities through laziness or dread of 
hardship. The fear of the truth leads many men 
to content themselves with a third or fourth or 
fifth rate of development of themselves. They are 
all their life in bondage to some imagining or fear. 
The truth, the realities of life would set them free; 
would set free the best in them; would lead them 
out into the wholeness of living. 

The effort to see reality is also an effort to see 


DEVELOPMENT OF LATENT POWERS 161 


the whole of what one’s life can be. One wishes 
to know all he may become. As one sees this he 
becomes aware that his capacities are reaching out 
in many directions and he begins to be oppressed 
by the consciousness that more powers are latent 
than his lifetime can permit him to develop. He 
must select. 

Here again is the call of obedience to the Spirit. 
A man may see an opportunity of service in the 
kingdom which would call out delightful possi- 
bilities that he recognizes in himself. He may see 
that the service is a necessary one. Yet that is 
only one of the various tasks which he might per- 
form. If that is not the one the Spirit has for 
him, he will not come to the height of his capacity 
in it. He must be loyal to the bidding of the Spirit 
if he would have the Spirit develop his latent pow- 
ers to their utmost. Sometime, in some life now 
or hereafter every possibility will be sure to come, 
in its own proper order, to its utmost. 

Special gifts — latent powers, the full fruition of 
one’s personality — come only in fellowship of 
Jesus Christ and under the sanctifying and illumi- 
nating and guiding Spirit. 


XXI 


The Relative Value of the Gifts and Graces 

“ 4 ND God hath set some in the church, first 
r\ apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teach- 
ers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, 
helps, governments, divers kinds of tongues. Are 
all apostles ? are all prophets ? are all teachers ? are all 
workers of miracles? have all gifts of healings? 
do all speak with tongues? do all interpret? But 
desire earnestly the greater gifts. And moreover 
a most excellent way show I unto you. 

“If I speak with the tongues of men and of an- 
gels, but have not love I am become sounding brass, 
or a clanging cymbal/’ (i Co. xii. 28-xiii. 1). 

The proper estimate of special gifts is impossible 
without the proper estimate of the ordinary gifts. 
The relative value of the two should be recognized. 
Also the relative value of the various special gifts 
when compared with each other. The Apostle (1 
Co. xiv. 1, 12), made edification the standard of 
values. We might use the phrase efficiency in serv- 
ice with equal propriety. 

There is great need of a clear conception of the 
attitude which the Christian should maintain toward 
the different modes in which the Spirit may render 
162 


THE RELATIVE VALUE 


163 


his service efficient. Lack of discernment has 
plunged immature and unthinking believers into 
grievous errors in every age of the church, from the 
days of Paul and the Corinthians to the present 
time. Good intentions and zeal for God have been 
no safeguard against the grossest mischiefs. Prob- 
ably no errors have been more harmful to the lives 
of believers than the misconceptions respecting the 
Holy Spirit. These errors have caused spiritual 
pride and conceit, indolence, fanaticism, and fearful 
self-deceptions in which the common teachings of 
morality were set at naught. These errors also 
caused reaction so that the truth respecting the 
Spirit was ignored or denied. 

The modes in which the Spirit is present with 
Christians have been estimated thoughtlessly in pro- 
portion to glitter rather than in proportion to their 
intrinsic excellence. That which should be sought 
first of all and which is attended by least peril of 
pride is the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit, 
for here the Spirit uses the man when he is most 
unconscious of being an instrument. The fruitful- 
ness of lives thus sanctified is beyond all estimate. 
The man is kept in a wise ignorance; he can grow 
in faith; by loyal obedience to the Spirit’s presence 
with him he can accomplish a work of great mag- 
nitude and without observation. Indeed, it is by 
the great multitude of such lives that the kingdom 
is advanced. 

Next should be sought the consecrated develop- 


164 


THE SUPREME NEED 


ment of one’s gifts of natural capacity. These 
gifts may be those which easily respond to the or- 
dinary stimulus to activity in a person’s surround- 
ings. They may be the latent capacities which re- 
quire stimulus of some unusual kind. 

The fullest cultivation of these is the most rev- 
erent mode of seeking extraordinary power. The 
richest results of this phase of the presence of the 
Spirit come only in connection with sanctifying 
grace of the Spirit. The two fully conjoined give 
more of the presence of the Spirit in a human life 
than is commonly known among Christians. They 
are due to the ordinary laws of grace and nature, 
and any believer can take advantage of these laws 
and gain the power which comes from character 
and ability. This second phase of the Spirit’s pres- 
ence is liable to more temptations than the first. An 
unregenerate man can cultivate his natural capaci- 
ties to a high degree as well as the Christian, and 
do it for selfish ends. The Christian is liable to the 
temptation to do the same thing, and to use his 
gifts selfishly. This, of course, means deteriora- 
tion in spiritual power, culminating in its utter loss. 

The great gifts of love, wisdom and intercessory 
prayer may be desired, asked with all earnestness, 
cultivated with all diligence. They are grounded 
in natural capacities, and their development is sub- 
ject to the conditions of the development of natural 
capacities. 

As to their relative value, and the zeal with 


THE RELATIVE VALUE 


165 


which they should be cultivated, it is to be remem- 
bered that Paul (i Cor. xiii. 13) put love in the 
chief place among gifts. No other gift can reach 
efficiency unless inspired by love. If God is love, 
man is most like God when filled with love. It was 
love which sent the Son into the world. In no 
respect can a disciple so fully partake of the divine 
nature as when ruled by love. It is the impelling 
motive of the highest Christian life*. 

Let no one think of love as merely an impulse 
to gladden a recipient. The value of the love of 
God is not merely in its selfless outreaching to im- 
part blessing. The value of love is due to the per- 
sonality of the being who loves. The value of 
God’s love is measureless because he is holy, wise 
and with no limit to his powers save the limit 
which he imposes on himself. 

The value of any human being’s love also is due to 
the character of that being. Is he holy? Then is 
the love selfless and pure. His holiness is the re- 
sult of the sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit. 
Is he wise? This also is the gift of the Holy Spirit 
bringing about a normal development of a natural 
capacity. 

As the divine love works with wisdom, so must 
the human love, else the warmth which love might 
give to all activity will be misdirected or dissipated. 
For this reason the gift of wisdom should be ear- 
nestly sought together with that of love. It may be 
sought in the fullest measure possible. It must be 


166 


THE SUPREME NEED 


remembered that wisdom is other and better than 
knowledge. Not wisdom but knowledge “ puffeth 
up.” 

Love sees a soul’s need and longs to provide for 
it. It is ready to give itself in selfless service. 
How shall it render the service ? Here comes wis- 
dom to understand the reality, to discern the right 
attitude to take and the right thing to do. Surely, 
a man feeling his lack of wisdom can lay hold of 
the words of James in faith that there is one who 
will give liberally and not withhold. 

Also a person may desire to serve God’s kingdom 
by the gift of prayer. Surely it is right to desire 
to minister in any service which will help redeem 
the world. Here we come to the right motive for 
seeking gifts. Any gift may be desired or sought 
for the sake of the service it may render to the 
kingdom of God. No gift — even the least one — 
may be sought for its own sake. 

The gift of extraordinary power in prayer seems 
to a thoughtful person the highest gift that can be 
bestowed. What can be a greater privilege than 
being permitted by God to reach out and influence 
the course of God’s providential dealing with men? 
It is wonderful to be let into the secret influences 
with which God hedges around all souls. Beside 
this the gift commonly called the gift of power 
seems relatively small. 

Yet the gift of power is doubtless that which is 
most attractive. It gives more than any other the 


THE RELATIVE VALUE 


167 


sense of being effectively useful. This comes from 
the fact that it is conspicuous, and, at times, spec- 
tacular. As to its relative value notice that Paul 
(i Cor. xii and xiii) placed the gifts which are 
marked by the spectacular element in the lowest 
rank. 

All kinds of gifts are needful for building up the 
church of Christ, and for the broader work of 
promoting the kingdom of God. For this reason a 
disciple may covet and seek any gift which is neces- 
sary for the accomplishment of his task. 

There are Christians who have an antipathy to 
the manifestations of the gift of power, because of 
the spectacular characteristics sometimes connected 
with it, and because those to whom it is given some- 
times show themselves deficient in ordinary Chris- 
tian graces. 

This is a blind refusal to recognize the workings 
of the Spirit. It is a sad spectacle that is presented 
by persons who let themselves fall into this blind- 
ness. They are denying the presence of the very 
Person to whose operations is due whatever of good 
there is within them. They are not wise, because 
they are not open minded. Wilfulness enters into 
their estimate of what they see. Tastes, prejudices, 
personal likings prevent them from seeing facts. 
There is a gift of discernment of spirits but they 
have it not. 

Better by far overestimate the worth of any gift 
than to depreciate and refuse to recognize its pres- 


168 


THE SUPREME NEED 


ence. This refusal brings the great loss that at- 
tends all resistance to the appeal of the Holy Spirit. 
Whenever obedience to the vision is refused there 
is an inevitable deterioration in life. A man is 
never the same afterward. Neither can he hope for 
one gift or grace of the Spirit while denying the 
reality of His presence in other gifts. The loss is 
no less real because unsuspected. It is an irony of 
life that 

When we in our viciousness grow hard — 

O misery on’t! — the wise gods seel our eyes; 

In our own filth drop our clear judgements; make us 
Adore our errors; laugh at’s, while we strut 
To our confusion. 

Antony and Cleopatra, Act III, Scene 13, 1 . niff. 


XXII 


Signs of the Redemptive Spirit’s Working in 
Life 

I N previous chapters the normal work of the 
Holy Spirit has been described with somewhat 
of detail. This has been with the purpose of 
answering such questions as the following: What 
are the offices of the Spirit? What are the works 
of the Spirit, the things that He does and that men 
cannot do? What help may we hope to receive? 
What are the gifts and blessings of the Spirit, that 
we may seek and enjoy them and acknowledge 
their source? 

Now questions are reversed. What are the signs 
which prove that the Spirit is working in an in- 
dividual life? Two classes of signs may be sought, 
those which are proof to the person in whose life 
the Spirit is manifesting His power, and those 
which are a proof to other persons. 

Is a man to expect to recognize the presence of 
the Spirit in his life with transforming power? 
Certainly, why not? Always? By no means. It 
is out of the question for any person to have such 
a consciousness of the operations and limitations 
of his own mind that he shall recognize the source 
169 


170 


THE SUPREME NEED 


of all the contributions to his inner life. If every 
element of mental or spiritual activity were always 
in clear consciousness and there were never any 
phenomena such as we refer to subconsciousness, 
doubtless self-analysis could go much farther than 
it now can. 

In some experiences of the inner life a man is 
aware of being in contact with forces which are 
other than himself. Where such a force is making 
for righteousness he is justified in thinking of it 
as the Spirit of God doing His office work. How- 
ever, the analogies of the life of perception might 
lead us to think of the presence of the Spirit as evi- 
denced by the results of His activity, or by those 
operations which should be attributed to Him as 
author. 

Thus, if a man has the sense of sonship, if he 
feels assured that God is his Father, he may know 
this to be positive evidence that the Spirit has been 
active within his inner life. If he finds great joy 
in doing the will of Jesus Christ, his Master, this 
is evidence that the Spirit is working in him to will 
and to do His good pleasure. These things are 
normal to the human spirit, and it is the Holy Spirit 
who brings man into normal condition. 

Whenever a soul finds that his chief reliance is 
God, in whom he has faith for all the issues and 
needs of life, or that his chief love is for God, 
his Father, or for Jesus Christ his Saviour, or for 
the work of his Master; whenever he finds that his 


REDEMPTIVE SPIRIT’S WORKING 171 


chief longing is for the redemption of men, his 
brethren, into the fulness of their birthright as 
God’s children, or that his great hope is for the 
establishment of a kingdom wherein dwelleth right- 
eousness; then he may know that the Holy Spirit 
has made a good beginning of His work in his 
heart. Any one of these things is a sign of His 
working. And there are other evidences of which 
He is the efficient cause. 

The primary value of these signs is for the man 
in whose life they have come to be. A man knows 
the experiences of his own heart, i.e. his inner ex- 
periences, though he may not understand their mean- 
ing. Others looking on need to be told of the ex- 
periences — though possibly they might divine them. 
They can see the phenomena of the outer life and 
oftentimes they can declare the meaning of these 
phenomena better than the person in whose life 
they appear. 

A sufficient sign of the operation of the Spirit 
in a man’s inner life is spiritual-mindedness. Who 
is the spiritually minded man? What is that qual- 
ity which is properly called spirituality? 

A legitimate and proper use of these phrases will 
always be in harmony with the Bible, and is de- 
rived from biblical, notably New Testament 
thought. In common speech, and somewhat in 
writing, there are uses of the phrases which are 
foreign to the Bible. These uses are employed 
largely when speaking of ministers of the Gospel. 


ra 


THE SUPREME NEED 


One type of thought starts from the contrast 
between body and spirit. It thinks of the spiritual 
as something incorporeal and formless, so that we 
can have no definite conception of it. Spiritual 
things are vague things which are simply not 
earthly; they are not material, and hence are out- 
side the perception of our senses. But tenuosity 
of matter or of thought is not spirituality. Rather 
it is often materialism, highly rarefied at times 
indeed, nevertheless whenever it approaches ac- 
tuality its materialistic substratum of thought be- 
comes manifest. 

Another mode of thinking starts from the fact 
that religion, piety, is incomplete if sentiment is 
lacking, for without it, fervor is also lacking. 
Just as real friendship has principle and sentiment 
combined, so religion, the friendship of God and 
man, has principle and sentiment. In human 
friendship and also in religion the principle may 
predominate and sentiment, the manifestation of 
affection, may be minimized or smothered. Or, on 
the contrary, sentiment and its manifestation may 
quite overbalance all other qualities with a Peck- 
sniffian fervor. It is not at all uncommon for peo- 
ple to take this overbalance of sentiment as spirit- 
uality. The sentimental preacher is for some hear- 
ers the spiritual preacher. This abnormal, because 
one sided, sentiment is not healthy sentiment. It is 
sentimentality. In religion it should be called re- 
ligiosity, piosity. 


REDEMPTIVE SPIRIT’S WORKING 175 


Spirituality is neither ethereal nor abnormally 
sentimental. If we start from the thought of the 
New Testament we shall form a more correct opin- 
ion of its nature. It is the minding the things of 
the Spirit, i.e. thinking on the things of the Spirit, 
setting one’s mind on the things of the Spirit. 
What are the things of the Spirit? They concern 
the kingdom of God. What is the Kingdom of 
God? It is righteousness and peace and joy in the 
Holy Spirit. It may be said that the things of the 
Spirit include the fruit of the Spirit. 

Again, what is meant by minding the things of 
the Spirit is illustrated in these words : “ Whatso- 
ever things are true [i.e. what are in “ harmony 
with the objective standard of morality contained 
in the Gospel”], whatsoever things are honorable 
[reverend, seemly, in accord with God], whatsoever 
things are just [just and right], whatsoever things 
are pure [unstained], whatsoever things are lovely 
[“ Christian morality, worthy of love, opposite of 
disgraceful”], whatsoever things are of good re- 
port [“gracious things which when stated com- 
mand general assent ”] ; if there be any virtue 
[“moral aptitude, inclination and action”], and if 
there be any praise [which follows virtue], think on 
these things.” 

“ These things ” are things of the Spirit. They 
belong to the realities of the soul ; they go with the 
fruit of the Spirit; they are concerned with the 
kingdom of God. The person who thinks on these 


174* THE SUPREME NEED 

things is spiritual. He cannot be anything but 
spiritual. 

When therefore a man’s life shows that the things 
of the kingdom of God occupy his thoughts, and 
that his activities turn toward righteousness, his 
life gives adequate proof to other people that the 
Spirit is operating within him. The fulness of the 
presence in his life can be judged by the degree in 
which these things shape his conduct. When a 
man’s life fails to show that the kingdom of God 
has a place in his thoughts, when his activities do 
not manifestly turn toward righteousness there is 
no adequate proof that the Redemptive Spirit is 
working in his life. 


XXIII 


Signs of the Spirit’s Presence in Service 

W HAT are the marks or signs that the 
Spirit of God is present with men help- 
ing them to the accomplishment of work 

for God ? 

Aid to the answer to this question will be found 
in the study of the biographies of men who have 
been eminent in the work of the Gospel. Paul, 
Origen, Athanasius, Basil, Ambrose, Augustine, 
Jerome, Bede, Columba, Boniface, the apostle to 
the Germans, Zwingli, Luther, Melanchthon, Cal- 
vin, John Robinson, John Wesley, Whitefield, 
Jonathan Edwards and David Livingstone are 
among the most important to study. 

There were positive elements in their lives which 
helped their service to be effective, defects which 
hindered. None of them was sinless. The Spirit 
was in them all by measure. More or less He was 
fettered by their lacks, by imperfect character, by 
narrowness of judgment or of sympathies, by im- 
perfect discernment of the essential truth, by over- 
emphasis on subordinate details. Nevertheless the 
Spirit was present with them in sanctifying power 
and in active service. 


175 


176 


THE SUPREME NEED 


Is there any one thing common to them all? 
We say that they had a great work to do and did 
it, and this is evidence of the presence of the 
Charismatic Spirit. But is there any characteristic 
of their life, or working, or attitude of mind 
that can be said to be indicative of the presence of 
the Spirit in them or in their works? 

The universal characteristic was devotion to some 
redemptive work. This is the fact in the simplest 
terms. 

It is far more than the recognition of some need 
in human life. It is common enough for a person 
to see defects in the world, to become uneasy by 
reason of maladjustments of social or civic rela- 
tions or by reason of abuses in business life, and 
even to become indignant on account of wrong 
doing of any kind. Without doubt these are evi- 
dence that the Holy Spirit is stirring a man’s heart. 
In themselves these are evidence of nothing more. 
The stirrings of the Holy Spirit are far short of 
what may be called His real presence in the human 
soul as Guide and Ruler in service. 

The lives of the men named above show much 
more than a sense of wrong which needed to be 
righted. There was a dominant conviction of some 
great needs on the part of men, and a sense that 
an obligation rested on them to do all that they 
could to meet these needs. “ Woe is me if I preach 
not the Gospel.” Woe is me if I work not on this 


SPIRIT’S PRESENCE 


177 


task which is placed before me. “ God help me, I 
can do nothing else. ,, When a conviction like this 
moves a man to devote himself to some redemptive 
work it is presumptive evidence of the Spirit’s pres- 
ence in service. It is, however, only partial evi- 
dence. Another is the fact that he willingly ac- 
cepts the obligation. 

It is not conceivable that the Charismatic Spirit 
is present in any marked degree with an unwilling 
man. The man must show readiness for his task, 
and he must be in harmony with the Spirit. He 
is not driven. He may be led, but he is willingly 
led, not dragged. Hence there is little or no fric- 
tion between him and the Spirit. He has faith and 
is restful in it. Therefore he is free and hopeful 
in his service. Without sense of bondage, with 
consciousness that he is a fellow-worker with God, 
his freedom is great. His hopefulness is equally 
great for he feels that he is in a partnership which 
will certainly secure great results. He does not 
worry for he follows a divine guidance, and knows 
that the responsibility of results rests with another, 
not upon himself. This places him above the fear 
of anything of the nature of carping criticism. 
His fear of men passes away, and his anxiety about 
the consequences of his work is likewise diminished. 
Here comes a release from the most fatiguing ele- 
ments of nervous strain, when worry has vanished. 
Thus the restful spirit or attitude of mind in work 
is often a distinguished mark of the presence of 


178 


THE SUPREME NEED 


the Holy Spirit. It was a notable characteristic of 
the great men named above. 

Their devotion was also singleminded. This 
made the task which they accepted the most im- 
portant thing they could do. They were free from 
the doubting fear lest they would better have taken 
some other work. The Spirit’s presence was evi- 
dent in the fact they did not scatter their efforts, 
they did not work at random. No strength or time 
was intentionally or willingly occupied in activities 
which did not promote the accomplishment of their 
work. They were absorbed in their task and did 
what they could to accomplish it. They put Christ 
and his work into the foreground, not self. 

Thus their devotion was selfless. This is a pe- 
culiarly natural feature of the Spirit’s presence in 
Christian work. He Himself is selfless and glori- 
fies Christ (Jo. xvi. 13, 14). An illustration of 
Paul’s selflessness is seen in his dealing with cir- 
cumcision in the cases of Titus and Timothy. Paul 
saw that the circumcision of Titus, a born Gentile, 
was vital in the questions of the day, and he re- 
fused to comply with the demand. He saw like- 
wise that the circumcision of Timothy, a Jew by 
descent, was immaterial and he consented to the act. 

A man who was less absorbed by the great object 
of Christlike work, who was more thoughtful of self, 
would have feared to risk the seeming inconsistency, 
or would have treated the question as a doctrinaire. 
But no, the body of Christ, the church, must be 


SPIRIT’S PRESENCE 


179 

served in all its entirety. The case of Titus pre- 
served the principle. In the person of Timothy the 
irenic spirit could be made manifest. 

All this was a mark of the working of the Char- 
ismatic Spirit. The redemptive work had so far 
progressed in Paul that considerations of self had 
fallen into the background, had sunk beneath no- 
tice. Thus the man was not blinded by self or 
egoism when important issues demanded his at- 
tention. They could be considered on their own 
merits. The man in whom the redemptive work 
has progressed far attains an increasing delicacy 
of perception of moral and spiritual realities. As 
a Christian worker he has insight into the truths 
which concern human redemption. One who is a 
“ growing Christian ” has an increasing love for 
Christ and for all for whom Christ died. This love 
will often illuminate a mind of less than ordinary 
quickness of insight, and it will open the way for 
energetic use of the gifts of service. 

Devotion brings that hunger for results which 
drove all these men to think, plan, work, use every 
power which God had given them in order to bring 
desired blessings into other lives. Their absorption 
in their great purpose quickened the intellect so that 
they gained clear conceptions of the great problems 
which were involved in their work. They came to 
discern the spiritual issues which were compre- 
hended in the results that they sought. The in- 
stance of Paul, Titus and Timothy already cited 


180 


THE SUPREME NEED 


illustrates this point. The discernment which comes 
from selfless longing for success is adapted to 
guard a man against ill-judged methods. 

No matter how devoted a man, no matter how 
selfless, no matter how clearly he discerns the great 
issues of his service, if he use ill-adapted means, 
or if he is inopportune in the use of proper means 
he must fail of full effectiveness. 

The Spirit’s presence in a man’s service is often 
best seen in the skill and wisdom which that man 
shows in Christian service. It is not necessary to 
think of these qualities as though mechanically in- 
serted into a human being. They are rather due 
to the normal heightening of the faculties under the 
proper conditions of development. The man who 
recognizes any work as his duty, and who is dead 
in earnest for its accomplishment, centers all his 
faculties on his work. Love for the work, zeal on 
promoting it, a pure heart, will each contribute to 
clearness or keenness of vision respecting the modes 
of Christian work, the times of pushing it forward. 
While love, zeal, and a pure heart each singly con- 
tribute much, their power combined is greater than 
the sum of their powers taken singly. Thus it is 
that he who is faithful and diligent in the use of his 
powers steadily grows in power. This is the law of 
the Spirit, as He has constituted human nature 
under the law. It is evident enough in activities of 
human life other than those of Christian service. 

Skill and wisdom therefore come by the study of 


SPIRIT’S PRESENCE 


181 


the conditions of success. These are learned by 
searching into the causes of both success and fail- 
ure. If a man does not recognize the failures and 
search for the cause of them there is reason to 
question his full devotion to his work, and the un- 
selfishness of his motives. A mark of the Charis- 
matic Spirit in a man is his recognition of limita- 
tion or deficiency in wisdom, his recognition of the 
danger of heedless or tactless methods of work. 
Where men love Christ much and yearn to serve 
him effectively they will search long, humbly and 
earnestly to learn the conditions of the highest suc- 
cess, and therefore they will see failure and seek 
the cause of failures. Hence can come confidence 
in the presence and guidance of the Spirit. 

The assured knowledge which is due to the pres- 
ence of a sanctifying Spirit enables a man to speak 
with that sincerity which is often a mark of the 
Spirit working in him. His life is seen to strive 
after conformity with his words. Words and life 
together produce the conviction that he knows 
something of the things for which he works, of 
which he speaks. Hence an effectiveness which 
must also be called a mark of the Spirit’s presence in 
his work, or in his mode of working. Whenever the 
regenerating and sanctifying operations of the Holy 
Spirit are manifestly present in a human life, this 
presence is used by the Spirit as a means of per- 
suasion or conviction in the hearts of still other 
persons. When the conviction or persuasion is 


18 a 


THE SUPREME NEED 


striking in degree, then the presence is recognized. 

It may be asked whether there is not a necessity 
for some convincing and indisputable manifestation 
of the Spirit’s presence in a Christian worker. 
What is meant when this question is asked ? 
Usually it will be found that the questioner has in 
mind some of the remarkable occurrences in the 
work of such men as Finney or Moody and in re- 
vivals. 

These evidences of the power of the Spirit in a 
man’s service should not cause surprise or disbe- 
lief. They are to be welcomed. Their value should 
not be minimized. Their importance should not 
be underrated — nor overrated. 

Great evangelists are few. The occurrences in 
question were but occasional in the life of these 
men. These facts are sufficient to turn our atten- 
tion in other directions for the chief evidences of 
the Spirit’s presence with workers. 

It is overrating these evidences to consider them 
indispensable, or to regard them as the most im- 
portant evidences that can be presented. 

The demand for visible and spectacular tokens 
of the Spirit’s presence is too common. People 
should heed the lesson given to Elijah at Horeb. 
The earthquake, tempest and fire were Elijah’s 
method of reform. None of these brought the 
message that Elijah needed. God’s teaching came 
in a different manner. The men who demanded a 
sign from Jesus were denied their desire. They 


SPIRIT’S PRESENCE 


183 


were refusing to listen to Moses and the prophets. 
Overwhelming proof is not God’s ordinary method. 
The ordinary method is addressed to the moral 
nature, and is a test of loyalty to spiritual realities. 

Simon impressed the people of Samaria so that 
they said “ This man is that power of God which 
is called great.” Many quasi religious movements 
give out that they are something great. Whenever 
the attention is centered on the worker more than 
on him whom the Christian is supposed to represent, 
the presence of the Spirit is doubtful. 

Indeed, to the eye open to spiritual realities the 
spectacular manifestations of the Spirit’s presence 
are not so striking as the power of a selfless Chris- 
tian life. By that quiet daily life He may make 
men see and feel the nature of sin and of righteous- 
ness, and He may thereby attract men toward 
righteousness. 

Thus the unmistakable presence of the Spirit’s 
sanctifying power is of the highest value as evi- 
dence of his presence in Christian service. 

To recapitulate, the signs we seek are devotion 
to redemptive work. The devotion will be single- 
minded and selfless. The work will be concentrated 
upon important issues. 

It will be marked by freedom and hopefulness 
in Christian service; freedom from the sense of 
constraint to service, freedom from fear of men or 
consequences to self from the service, freedom from 
anxiety and nervous wear in this service. 


184 


THE SUPREME NEED 


The worker will have insight into the truths 
which concern human redemption, which may be- 
gin from love to Christ, for love is a great illumi- 
nator. 

He will be granted clearness of perception re- 
specting all moral questions or spiritual issues; 
hence an escape from ignorance and its evils. 

He will seek and obtain skill and wisdom for 
Christian service, so as to adopt the wisest means 
to secure proper results, and so as to avoid unwise 
and inopportune means. 


XXIV 


Conditions of Receiving the Spirit in One’s 
Life 

I N general these conditions may be defined as 
obedient receptivity, Le. receiving and follow- 
ing the methods of the Holy Spirit as the law 
of human activity. 

I. A person must obey the laws of the Cosmic 
Spirit. No man expects to see external objects 
with his eyes closed, or to see clearly without light, 
or, if he has defective eyes, to have satisfactory 
vision without artificial aids. These are among the 
laws of the Cosmic Spirit. 

No man may hope to gain any knowledge save 
by the appropriate processes. He must apply the 
principles of deductive logic to the learning of 
geometry, and those of induction to physical 
science. Should he reverse the methods he can- 
not but fail in both modes of seeking knowledge. 
He must accept the principles of logic as the Spirit’s 
laws for the gaining of knowledge. When a man 
studies psychology in order to learn the ways of 
the Spirit, he is following a truly scientific method, 
and is on the way to the solution of many a philo- 
185 


186 


THE SUPREME NEED 


sophical question. He who accepts this principle 
is developing his natural capacities in the normal 
way, and will be likely to develop them to the full 
range of his powers. 

II. He must obey the laws of the Redemptive 
Spirit. Regeneration comes when one accepts His 
renewing power. The refusal to accept the re- 
newing agency of the Spirit is the sole prevention 
of this work of the Spirit. The slightest readiness 
to permit His operation in the heart is sure to be 
followed by His action. He will always enter the 
heart that does not reject Him, and never fail to fill 
as large a place as He is allowed to do. 

“ Ignorance of the right psychical pathway in 
Christian experience many times misleads and ren- 
ders such seeking [after definite Christian experi- 
ence] ineffective, . . . When the conditions of ex- 
perience are clearly understood, defect in con- 
formity to them, slight it may be yet vital, makes 
absolutely and permanently abortive the whole proc- 
ess. The only thing that is needed to make the 
effort effective is scrupulous and persistent reso- 
lution to leave no part of the action incomplete, or 
indifferently done.” (Warner, pp. 241 f.). 

The principle holds good of His sanctifying 
agency. Just as a person must seek to learn the 
methods of the Cosmic Spirit in order to develop 
his natural capacities, so he must learn the methods 
of the Sanctifying Spirit. There are several con- 
ditions. 


RECEIVING THE SPIRIT 


187 


(1) Prayer. The Holy Spirit in sanctification 
maintains a fellowship between Christ and the be- 
liever, so that the soul can know Christ well 
'enough to become Christlike. One law of the 
Spirit is that prayer is essential to* the maintenance 
and development of this fellowship. The power 
to receive illumination from God requires such a 
fellowship with God as will enable us to under- 
stand his mind. Communication between two per- 
sons is absolutely essential for fellowship between 
them. Without prayer there is no fellowship be- 
tween God and man. 

(2) The establishment of the habit of harbor- 
ing no sin recognized to be sin. The Holy Spirit 
will not abide with the disobedient heart. He is 
grieved and by His own law He cannot be present 
when the man is unwilling to do His will. If a 
man would progress in sanctification, he must live 
in no known sin, must cling to nothing believed, 
or even feared, to be contrary to God’s will. In 
fact, where there is any doubt, the doubtful thing 
cannot be held without detriment to one’s progress 
in the divine life. 

(3) The establishment of the habit of prompt 
performance of every duty seen to be duty, and 
this in its own proper time. 

(4) The establishment of the habit of viewing 
one’s life and all its concerns from the standpoint 
of God’s redemptive kingdom. This includes the 
habit of estimating all conduct by the mind of 


188 


THE SUPREME NEED 


Christ. It therefore necessitates the constant seek- 
ing of the mind of Christ by the illumination of the 
Spirit. This illumination is to be gained by: 

I. Cultivation of the belief that the Spirit is 
ready to give guidance if He is permitted to do so; 
therefore, He is to be sought, not as if He were re- 
mote ; rather He is to be regarded as waiting to give 
what is needed. 

II. Cultivation of the conviction that the soul 
is so constituted that it will rest in the truth and 
live by the truth, and can find rest and life in no 
other way. 

III. Prayer. No man need hope to learn the 
mind of the Spirit who does not constantly pray 
in order to learn, pray that his own spiritual per- 
ceptions may become sensitive to the indications of 
the mind of God, pray that in particular emer- 
gencies his mind may become clear-sighted. 

IV. Positive study of the mind of Christ or of 
the Spirit.. The assistance of the Spirit is never 
intended to supersede one’s own efforts. Just as it 
is necessary to study the operations of the Cosmic 
Spirit, so it is necessary to study the ways of the 
Redemptive Spirit. Prayer is no substitute for 
study, but it prepares for study by bringing persons 
into a closer relationship with God. 

The sources of study are conscience, the written 
word of God, the dealings of God with his people, 
the thought of his truest followers. It may be that 
the experience and knowledge of others, even pub- 


RECEIVING THE SPIRIT 


189 


lie opinion, one’s own moods, talents, instincts or 
tastes may be means used by the Spirit for instruc- 
tion. The Spirit cannot contradict Himself; no 
illumination coming from the Spirit will contradict 
what He teaches through reason in its full breadth, 
through radical moral convictions, or the clear 
teaching of the Bible. 

V. In order to receive the illumination of the 
Spirit one must hold every avenue of his nature 
open for the entrance of the divine grace. 

Candor must be cultivated. Lack of candor, un- 
willingness to believe, or to accept something dif- 
ferent from what was anticipated or preferred, these 
violate the methods of the Spirit, and close the eyes 
of the man’s understanding. We are to be ready 
to accept as truth or as a duty what we have not 
desired, or have preferred not to accept. In short, 
we are to be divested of every form of self-will, 
for this prevents clear sight. 

One must watch so as not to fail to perceive the 
presence of the Spirit, so as to recognize it and mis- 
take nothing else for it. It must be remembered 
that He is present in every effort to repel the al- 
lurement of sinful delight, to overcome anger or 
any other passion. 

VI. All things that may grieve the Spirit must 
be repelled. These are all contrary to the laws of 
grace, they are hostile to the life of redemption. 
Things that grieve the Spirit include: 

Precipitancy of temper, which prevents us from 


190 THE SUPREME NEED 

waiting for the clear indication of the mind of the 
Spirit. 

Clinging to what ought to be forsaken. 

Dwelling upon the details of sin with pleasure, 
thinking how pleasant such and such actions would 
be if they were not wrong; this blunts the delicacy 
of spiritual perception. Purity of heart is neces- 
sary in order to see God. 

Insincerity and artificiality. 

Bitterness toward others, an unforgiving spirit. 

Pride which prevents us from accepting guid- 
ance through some particular agency. “ Since all 
alike are promised gifts of the Spirit, we must all 
be willing to learn from one another.” 

Distrust of God’s wisdom or goodness; in short 
anything that mars the closeness of the fellowship 
between God and man. 

Let no one treat the details given above in a legal 
spirit. They are a somewhat minute analysis of 
the positive and negative aspects of the obedient 
receptivity named in the first sentence of this chap- 
ter. The analysis is given for the sake of helping 
a person to test the completeness of his obedience, 
or the full readiness of his receptivity. If his heart 
responds heartily with an obedient and receptive 
spirit, the Holy Spirit is richly present in his life. 


XXV 


The Conditions of Receiving the Spirit of 
Power for Service 

4 LL that has been written is of value only as 
it is derived from Christian experience as 
illuminated and interpreted by the Bible, or 
as it is derived from the Bible illustrated and veri- 
fied in Christian experience. Especially is it im- 
portant to remember this fact in considering the 
present subject. At no point except upon the sub- 
ject of regeneration is it so important consciously 
to hold one's self close to these sources of knowl- 
edge, the Bible and Christian experience. 

As to experience as a source of knowledge we 
may well look to lives in which the power of the 
Spirit has been notably manifest. In doing this we 
are made to see that the methods of the Spirit 
change from time to time, as to types of persons 
used, and modes of manifestation. Among rep- 
resentatives of those whose lives and activity ex- 
emplify the gift of the Spirit for service are the 
persons named at the beginning of chapter xxiii. 
Various conditions are seen to have been fulfilled 
in lives such as these. 


191 


192 


THE SUPREME NEED 


A permanent background of all their mental 
states was faith. It was a faith as of Heb. xi., 

in God as the ever-present and supreme personal 
reality in all human life; 

in the spiritual and unseen as most real, as that 
which gives meaning and value to the physical and 
the seen; 

in the purpose of God to redeem the world to 
himself; 

in Jesus Christ as the Redeemer of the world, 
in whose fellowship we are both saved and able 
to help to save others ; 

in the ability of the Holy Spirit to give efficiency 
to our efforts, i.e. a faith in the Holy Spirit as the 
sole source of efficiency in service. 

There was also faith that what the Spirit made 
to seem to be duty would be made successful by 
Him. It was a faith that trusted Him for results, 
that did not yield to discouragement, but did His 
bidding and left results to Him. 

It was a faith that they had actually entered into 
fellowship with Christ and had become fellow 
workers with God and were called to the task be- 
fore them. 

It was a faith that the Gospel was adequate to 
the salvation of any and every man, and that full 
Christlikeness was the aim of salvation. 

All this faith was an atmosphere in which an- 
other and more essential condition had its vital 
breath. This was the passion of love and devotion 


CONDITIONS OF RECEIVING 193 

to Jesus Christ. It was this which more than any- 
thing else brought them the gift of the Spirit for 
wisdom and service. 

The fundamental condition of effective service 
has always been love for Jesus. When Paul wrote 
“ for me to live is Christ ” he uttered the whole 
secret. Always in human life when power has 
waned, the renewal of the love for Christ has been 
at the beginning of the renewal of power. 

This passion for Christ might be thought of as 
the sentiment of admiration for some of the quali- 
ties which were manifested according to the gospel 
record. When sentiment is merely a luxurious in- 
dulgence of the emotions, it has no value for hu- 
man life. It is a form of dissipation. It bears the 
same relation to the genuine function of sentiment 
that amusement for its own sake bears to amuse- 
ment as recreation and re-creation. 

Religious emotion may be, and sometimes is, a 
sentimental indulgence — like to the luxurious stir- 
ring of the feelings in hearing the delicious har- 
mony of music merely for the sake of the passing 
feelings. When sentiment is a part of character, 
contributing to strength, to courage, to persistence 
in duty, then sentiment has its proper function. 

Such a sentiment was the passion for Christ in 
these men. This burned away the obstacles in the 
way of fellowship with him. Their lives must be 
hid with him in God, nothing less could content 
them. All the conditions of which they knew on 


194 


THE SUPREME NEED 


which the presence of the Spirit in life depends 
they strove to fulfil. 

They strove to know the mind of God. They 
sought knowledge not for its own sake, for by it- 
self knowledge could never transform human life. 
They sought diligently to know the religious mean- 
ing of the Bible for that knowledge alone could be 
an instrument suited for their work. 

Zeal, enthusiasm, passion, heat were essential 
that they might share the mind of their Master. 
They quenched not the Spirit by failing to respond. 
Christ was more than a theology, more than a 
moral code, more than a ritual, more than a social 
reformation. He was a person, a Redeemer of 
men. In the power of this conviction they toiled 
mightily, they agonized. 

All this was the expression of devotion to a per- 
son. The true passion for Christ has always made 
an imitation of Christ inevitable. If we attempt 
to imitate the deeds of Jesus we are in danger of 
making a servile copy. We become morbid by 
reason of the uncertainties which arise and the fail- 
ures which are inevitable when the mind is concen- 
trated on outward conduct. 

It is when we listen to his words and receive his 
declaration of his master passion, that we learn 
what must be our passion if we would imitate him. 
It is when we study his life as an interpretation of 
his master passion that his acts may be studied with 
a thought of imitating him. 


CONDITIONS OF RECEIVING 


195 


When we think that Jesus had the Spirit not by 
measure we may also well think of his supreme 
devotion to the will of the Father. The mark of 
a true passion for Jesus is a devotion to the same 
will to which he was devoted. This devotion made 
him a fitting home for the indwelling Spirit. The 
same devotion will make us to be similar homes. 

It is easy to see that for Jesus the will of the 
Father had a unique place. He identified himself 
with that will so completely that his being re- 
sponded to it as the free needle of the compass 
turns to its pole. The accomplishment of that will 
was the one purpose of his life. 

The question naturally arises, Flow can one know 
what the will of God is? Much more important 
is the question, Am I ready to do that will when 
it is made known? One might say with much jus- 
tice that it is no benefit for a soul to know what 
God’s will is when that soul has no intention of 
doing it. The truth is that the willingness to do 
the will of God is an important factor in the prob- 
lem of finding it. Without this willingness a man 
has no right to ask to know, nor is it in the slight- 
est degree likely that full knowledge will be given 
him. Jesus had no wonderful works to show to 
gratify the mere curiosity of men. 

The choice of God’s will is more important than 
the full vision of that will. What benefit would 
come from granting the full vision of God’s will 
to a soul which is averse to doing any will but its 


196 


THE SUPREME NEED 


own? If it were possible for the soul to take in 
the vision, what would be the benefit? When we 
fail in wholeness of devotion to the doing of God’s 
will, our vision is necessarily obscured. On the 
other hand full devotion to doing the will 
of God insures in due time all needed vision of 
duty. 

Thus for us, as for Jesus, self-surrender to the 
uttermost is the essential condition for the gift of 
the Spirit. We study the life of Jesus and see 
something of what this means. Somebody has 
uttered the pregnant phrase “ the selflessness of 
Jesus.” The gospels contain many utterances ex- 
pressing this characteristic. What is selflessness? 
It means more than unselfishness. To indicate the 
opposite of selflessness we might perhaps coin the 
word selfful. There are persons whose conduct is 
largely unselfish. They are often generous to a 
fault in what they give to others or do for them. 
They bestow gifts and time and service freely, 
yet they often show a self-sufficient, egotistic or 
self-conscious attitude of mind. Their egotism 
takes the grace out of their kindnesses. 

What is that selflessness of Jesus which was more 
than unselfishness? First, it is the habit of not 
looking at life from a merely personal standpoint. 
The primary question is not whether one has the 
Lord on his side. It is not whether truth is on his 
side. A man should ask rather whether he is on 
the side of the Lord, whether he is on the side of 


CONDITIONS OF RECEIVING 197 


truth. For many people, perhaps the majority, this 
attitude does not easily become habitual. 

Second, it is the attitude of mind which is not 
quick to feel slights, nor is it jealous of the pros- 
perity of others, nor envious of them in their pros- 
perity. When a man is quick to perceive slights 
and feel resentment: when he finds it difficult to 
enjoy the sight of another’s possession of a good 
which he has not, or of another’s success where he 
has failed, however generous his acts may be he 
has not the selflessness of Jesus. When a man finds 
that a friend’s mishap gives him any pleasure, how- 
ever slight, although he may relieve that friend’s 
distress with sincere pleasure he is not selfless. 
When a man finds himself relatively obscure or un- 
noticed and is pained thereby, self has not yet been 
crucified with Christ. 

Third, this quality, which is more than ordinary 
unselfishness may perhaps best be realized by com- 
parison with the egotistic spirit which I shall call 
selfful, though not necessarily selfish. 

The selfful man identifies truth with self. The 
selfless man identifies self with truth. 

The selfful man imparts benefits and makes the 
fact known. The selfless man imparts benefits and 
lets the fact be forgotten. 

The selfful man does favors in a way to attract 
attention. The selfless man does favors so nat- 
urally that they may easily be overlooked, and do 
not attract attention. 


198 


THE SUPREME NEED 


The selfful man imparts benefits with condescen- 
tion, conferring favors as a superior. The selfless 
man never confers benefits, he shares them as an 
equal, as a brother. 

The selfful man demands attention to himself , 
favors for himself , obedience to himself , considera- 
tion of himself , belief in his words, because he is 
himself. The selfless man summons to the right, 
because it is right, because it is God’s will for which 
he is in no wise responsible and which he can in 
no wise change or modify. 

The selfful man strives to accomplish results be- 
cause of personal pride, for the sake of credit to 
come to himself or on account of some other self- 
regarding motive. The selfless man strives to ac- 
complish worthy results regardless of the conse- 
quences to himself. 

The selfful man, when considering a future 
course, constantly considers first of all the benefits 
possible for himself, or any other results for self. 
The selfless man devotes himself primarily to noble 
ideals, to the good of others. When he thinks of 
himself, it is not for his own sake, primarily, but 
for the sake of others. When he cares for him- 
self, it is to preserve or increase his power of serv- 
ing others. 

All egotism, selffulness mars the influence of the 
Spirit. It diverts the mind from seeking, or accept- 
ing His guidance. It occupies the thought and pre- 
vents Him from gaining the attention due to Him. 


CONDITIONS OF RECEIVING 199 

This egotism is a subtle foe to the guidance of 
the Spirit. Nothing but a resolute struggle against 
it, recognized in its true nature, will give the Spirit 
a proper opportunity. If a man will try to suppress 
all consideration of self that is not imperatively 
necessary, he may be able to cause an atrophy of 
the egotistic or selfful considerations and practices. 
If he will force his thoughts and activities into the 
selfless channels he may hope to win a victory over 
this most subtle foe of the full control of a human 
life by the Holy Spirit. 

Here is the value of the passion for Jesus. No 
more powerful force can come into a human life 
or heart to secure the absolute surrender of self to 
God’s will to the uttermost, and to lead into that 
selflessness of Jesus which will insure a gift of 
the Holy Spirit for service. 

Which of the gifts of the Holy Spirit? Does 
the man select the gift? Not if his supreme desire 
is the doing of God’s will. Is it not quite possible 
that men fail of receiving the gift because not 
recognizing and accepting the gift which is placed 
in their hands ? Or, because they have their hearts 
set on some particular gift, for which perhaps they 
are not so well fitted, or some gift which is not 
so well fitted for the task which has been assigned 
them to do? Selflessness must rule here as every- 
where (i Co. xii. 7 - 1 1 ). 

When a man has faith in God’s wisdom, power 
and will to guide him into the place and into the 


200 


THE SUPREME NEED 


form of service in which the man can do his best 
and become his best, he can be content to use such 
gifts as are bestowed upon him, or which the 
Spirit places in his reach. He knows whom he has 
believed, and is certain that he has always what 
is best for him. He can work untroubled by mis- 
givings and give his full strength to his work, doing 
what is his best. He will be equally sure that just 
the minute that God shall wish him to receive other 
gifts, or the same gift under other conditions, God 
can and will make this choice known, and open the 
way to any place to which he should go. Lack of 
a faith like this weakens a man’s hands and dis- 
tracts the energies of many men whether in the min- 
istry or in other callings. 


XXVI 


Besetting Perils 

W HY should we think of perils in connec- 
tion with the gifts of the Spirit? If 
these gifts are received with perfect 
poise we may believe that no perils would arise. If 
a man’s selflessness were always equal to his gift 
he would be safe. 

The gift for service is largely a gift of power. 
A gift for Christian living gives preeminence in 
some spiritual attainment. The consciousness of 
preeminence of any sort whether of one’s qualities 
or of power is attended by temptation. 

A person can enter into some high spiritual ex- 
cellence with unconsciousness. After a time he is 
liable to become aware of his attainment. He can 
even overrate it. The biographies of prominent 
Christians show that their life of leadership often 
develops the consciousness of power, — a power op- 
erative in them. 

Still again an innumerable number of Christians 
who have no special prominence come to have well- 
grounded faith that the Spirit’s power is operative 
with them. 

It comes to pass in this way. A man sees his 
201 


THE SUPREME NEED 


202 

duty plainly set before him. He is obliged to en- 
gage in its performance at the time set for it. Often 
it is in order for us when we feel uncertain and 
doubtful about our course to wait until certainty 
comes and doubts clear up. Not so when a man’s 
duty is a stated task. He may not wait. He must 
go forward however doubtful he may feel about his 
wisdom, preparation or adequacy for the task. 

Under such circumstances he has a right to go 
forward in faith that such help as he needs will 
attend his efforts. Always this presupposes that he 
faithfully tries to make himself a fit instrument for 
the Spirit to use. At the time of action he may 
have no sense of power or of help. Later he is 
convinced by the results that his efforts have been 
made effective. He learns to rely upon the presence 
of the Spirit constantly operating with him when 
he faithfully attempts to live out his life to the full 
measure of holy living and service. 

In whatever way a man comes to think of himself 
as a recipient of grace or as an instrument of the 
Spirit, he enters into the new life of temptation. 
This is paralleled in experience of men to whom 
great' power is given in any non-religious depart- 
ment of life, whether religious men or not. Power 
of whatever sort brings temptations of its own kind. 
Only a sober-minded man can have true balance. 
The quality of sobriety is the “ well-balanced state 
of mind resulting from habitual self-control.” It 
is therefore another side of that fruit of the Spirit 


BESETTING PERILS 


noted above in chapter xiii by virtue of which a 
man thinks of himself not more highly than he 
ought to think. Rather with prayer he is able to 
remain humble and tender-hearted and continually 
to increase in wisdom and insight. 

What are the temptations that encompass a man 
who has the gift of power, and against which so- 
briety and selflessness are indispensable? 

For illustration we turn first to the experience 
of Jesus. At his baptism the Spirit descended 
upon him and temptations followed the new con- 
sciousness of divine presence. They were not 
gross. They were disguised. They pretended to 
promote the work of God, to honor him or hasten 
the coming of his kingdom. As Jesus was sub- 
jected to great temptation when he had received 
new gifts of the Spirit, so will his servants be 
tempted. 

The temptations which come to us can be more 
gross and they may be as subtly disguised as those 
which came to the Master. 

One class of temptations is in proportion to the 
show and glitter of the gift. The first peril is that 
of prizing the power for the sake of the notoriety 
it brings. A man might well shrink from a gift of 
power which would bring him into publicity with 
its manifold temptations. 

But the glamor of evangelistic effectiveness leads 
to prizing this publicity overmuch. The writer is 
wholly unwilling to belittle this effectiveness, but 


204 


THE SUPREME NEED 


it is not the only gift of the Spirit; and if we may 
judge from the fact that it is not one of the com- 
mon gifts, it is not to be sought as the most im- 
portant or the most desirable. Many speak and 
act as though it were the one gift of the Spirit 
which is valuable or which is to be prized. Men 
sometimes lose sight of the gifts which they ought 
to seek as did the Corinthians. Christian love was 
a greater gift than the spectacular gifts which kin- 
dled admiration and longing. 

The gift to be sought is power, divine power of 
any sort which the wisdom of the Spirit shall be- 
stow. It is the power coming from the Father, 
power coming because of the indwelling Christ, the 
power of the Spirit enabling us to discern the mind 
of the Master, strengthening within us the desire to 
live the life of fellowship with the Father and his 
children, confirming within us the purpose to serve 
him where and how he chooses, and enabling us to 
make this service as effective as possible. As has 
been said there is danger that one may think that 
some especial gift is the only one to be sought, and 
that one may forget that any gift which the Master 
shall choose is an honor and an indescribable privi- 
lege. 

Let no man despise any gift by which the love of 
Christ may reach out through him to help those 
for whom Christ died. Let no man think the gift 
of being good a small thing when it is so essential 
for the manifestation of the character of Jesus — 


BESETTING PERILS 


205 


for it is a mode of the manifestation of the in- 
dwelling Christ. Let no man belittle a Christian 
life pure and simple as a spiritual power. It is the 
basis of all Christian work, and without it other 
gifts are largely shorn of power. Let no man de- 
spise the days when he performs the ordinary duties 
or services to which God’s wisdom may shut him 
up. Let no man assume that he knows best where 
and how his life shall count most for the kingdom. 
The vow of absolute obedience to the superior which 
the Jesuit makes is a vow due to the Holy Spirit 
alone, and not to any human representative. There 
is danger of treating the Holy Spirit as though He 
had no more wisdom than we, and as though His 
function was merely to provide such measures of 
power as we wish. 

Publicity in the exercise of the gift of power 
opens the way for spiritual pride. He who has 
learned that this gift of power has been bestowed 
upon him needs great grace not to fall into the sin 
of censorious thought and speech. It also has the 
perils of self-consciousness, of attitudinizing in the 
Christian service, and of subjectivity. There is 
danger of forming the habit of looking to one’s 
feelings and impulses for all indications of divine 
guidance to the utter neglect of external providence. 
There is danger of defying all indications of duty, 
save one’s feelings. It is sometimes appalling to 
hear the confident claims of divine guidance on the 
part of the immature or narrow-minded Christian 


206 


THE SUPREME NEED 


whose whole reason is feeling, who grounds his 
assertion wholly on feeling, and who defies every 
dictate of the Spirit of God speaking through the 
sanctified common sense of persons whose lives are 
full of the fruits of the Spirit. 

Pride that one should be so privileged, even 
exalted, as to be used by God as one of his instru- 
ments opens the way for bitter humiliations. So 
also does spiritual pride respecting one’s inner ex- 
periences and attainments. One immediate result 
is a diminution of power. The show of godliness or 
godly activity can remain, but the indwelling Christ 
is less manifest. Continued pride will expel the 
Christ, and bring power to an end. Let a man ever 
pray for humility, for his gifts are not due to his 
goodness, but to his need of those gifts, and at the 
beginning they are granted because of his recep- 
tivity. Humility is receptivity. Pride destroys re- 
ceptivity. The possession of some small gift when 
recognized may lead to pride. A man may even 
endure the testing of a small gift, and then receive 
a greater gift only to fall under its greater tempta- 
tion. 

A man might well shrink from a gift of power 
which would take him into publicity with its mani- 
fold temptations, but there is one gift of power, 
and the worthiest of all, which every believer may 
well seek for himself. It is the gift of power in 
prayer. This is a gift which can be exercised in 
obscurity, and is least open to the temptation of 


BESETTING PERILS 


m 


spiritual pride. The grace of humility is very apt 
to accompany this gift. It sometimes seems as 
though this gift were commonly bestowed upon 
humble and obscure women whom the providence 
of God had excluded from the active duties of 
Christian life. 

A peril which attends the experience of unex- 
pected help in crises is that of the temptation to 
indolence. In this case a person neglects the fitting 
preparation for duty. He leaves himself to the 
chance “ inspiration ” of the emergency. The man 
who habitually uses all opportunities to prepare for 
emergencies may hope for inspiration when he 
needs it. It is the sin of presumption for other 
men to look for it. 

The temptation to indolence is seen in the dan- 
ger of becoming content with lesser gifts than the 
fullest possible. One may come to love duty so that 
it becomes no longer burdensome and hard, but a 
joy and an inspiration. A man may so love duty 
that the thought of failure therein would bring keen 
pain. Such a love for duty comes from the love 
of the person to whom the duty is due, from loyalty 
to the Master. How far does loyalty go in seeking 
all possible gifts? The gospel story shows great 
diversity in willingness to follow Jesus, and in per- 
sistence in staying with him. Some went with 
Jesus until a hard saying offended them (Jo. vi. 
66). Others could not follow him when they were 
told that out of Galilee came no prophet (Jo. vii. 


208 


THE SUPREME NEED 


52). Others feared to follow, or confess when 
they incurred the penalty of being cast out of the 
synagogue (Jo. ix. 21-23). Judas deserted him 
at the supper. Others went to Gethsemane, and 
could wake to watch with the Master, they after- 
ward forsook him and fled, though some followed 
afar off. John and some women at least followed 
him to the cross, and some bore the body to the 
tomb. 

These may be taken as types of the affection 
and loyalty manifested to-day in degrees varying as 
widely as the occurrences given in the gospel nar- 
ratives. 

Is it not the case that men receive the gifts of 
the Holy Spirit in proportion to the degree in 
which they are ready to follow the Master under 
all circumstances? The more ready they are, the 
greater the gift that is given them; that is, the 
greater the gift that is peculiar to them. May it 
not diminish if their love, their loyalty dimin- 
ishes? 

Thus may indolence lead a man to think that his 
gift is sufficiently full, to become satisfied, and to 
have no desire to attain anything more or greater. 

Another manifestation of indolence is the hold- 
ing oneself passive in receiving gifts and not quali- 
fying oneself for enlargement of gifts by using to 
the full what one already has. Here is danger of 
“ losing spiritual initiative and of an unwise 
pietism.” 


BESETTING PERILS 


209 


Indolence manifests itself by the unwillingness 
to endure the strain of waiting through a period of 
doubt, hence precipitate action may be due to in- 
dolence quite as much as is procrastination. 

So also the indolent man is fearful of what is 
involved in continued earnestness. 

Still again the indolent man is too ready to mis- 
take obstacles for barriers, when they are only dif- 
ficulties set before him to be overcome. 

By reason of indolence a man is liable to let him- 
self disregard secondary details as of little value. 
Then he may begin to treat methods of doing his 
work as secondary. That which is right in one’s 
predominant purpose is allowed to justify wrong 
methods in operation, because right ones are 
tedious. 

An indolent man actually in the work and feel- 
ing its pressure is open to the temptation to relax 
the habit of prayer, and to lose sight of the neces- 
sity of being good in his passion for doing good. 
Surely this will quench the Spirit. 

Just at this point many have been overcome with 
sin. The joy of finding that God is actually using 
him, making him a divine instrument, has made 
many a man forget the peril of temptation, and 
danger of sin, and the need of constant prayer and 
watchfulness against the approach of evil. A false 
security comes in, as though the fact of God’s pres- 
ence with a man, using him as an instrument, sanc- 
tified every feeling and impulse in his heart, and 


210 


THE SUPREME NEED 


made it impossible for error to approach him. At 
no point in a man’s life is he in greater danger. 

It is at this stage in experience that some of the 
saddest falls have occurred and the worst scandals 
have arisen. There are temperaments for which 
the emotional side of religious experience opens the 
way to gross sins. Their religious emotion is pas- 
sionate and, for them, close beside the ecstatic re- 
ligious experience, lies the pathway to erotic experi- 
ence. For this temperament relations and inti- 
macies that begin in all purity, without thought of 
evil, are liable to develop into something quite un- 
foreseen and impossible at the outset. Let no man 
believe that while he is in the flesh he will be ex- 
empt from the need of watchfulness and prayer that 
he enter not into temptation. 

The temptations of the selfful man are various. 
He is liable to think a gift to be his own. If so, 
he is like the false prophets (Mic. iii. 5) in ancient 
Israel who regarded their membership in a prophetic 
guild a ground of temporal gain. The only legiti- 
mate use of the Spirit’s gift of power is for spirit- 
ual ends and for the good of others. This is taught 
by one of the temptations of Jesus. If a man for- 
gets the purpose of the gift he is sure to pervert 
it to a wrong use. 

The selfful man is in danger of thinking that the 
gift of God can be bought with a price. It is not 
the coarse error of Simon the sorcerer who thought 
that silver or gold was the price. The error in 


BESETTING PERILS 


$11 

question is in thinking that one may substitute extra 
devotion at one point for that entire devotion which 
is needed at every point; and because of this ex- 
tra devotion claim a gift for some special service 
which seems agreeable, instead of performing a dis- 
tasteful service. There are no substitutions of this 
sort in the kingdom; nevertheless many men fall 
into this error. God commits the choice of his gifts 
to no human will. 

This man is also in danger of failing to perceive, 
or refusing to heed unexpected or unwelcome open- 
ings which come to him. Thus is the Spirit 
quenched. A prime necessity is to be willing to 
do what one least likes to do. He that fails to be 
faithful in that which is least, if something dis- 
tasteful is found, cannot be expected to be faithful 
in that which is greatest. 

The danger of fanaticism in, its various forms 
and consequences is the great danger which attends 
the fact that the Holy Spirit sometimes accompanies 
the work of Christians with special impartations of 
power. This danger comes from ignorance or from 
one-sided views, and is due to the assumption that 
the Spirit may give gifts which are wholly inde- 
pendent of his other gifts, whether in the past or 
in the present. It is presumptuous self-sufficiency 
to assume that all one’s elders have wholly ignored 
the guidance and teachings of the Spirit, and that 
now a person is entering into important truths 
which other Christians have not the grace to recog- 


212 


THE SUPREME NEED 


nize. If this belief enters a man’s mind and is not 
accompanied by great searchings of heart lest he be 
in error, there is abundant reason for all other 
persons to believe that the spirit of the man is from 
below and not from above. God sometimes sends 
a man forth with a message which is as a fire within 
his bones, and that man is in the succession of the 
prophets. It is one and the self-same Spirit who 
commissions all the prophets, and no man in the 
succession attempts to abrogate the work of his 
predecessors. He strives to fulfil the work begun 
in the past. 

The real gifts of the Spirit minister not to fanat- 
icism but to sanity. The ordinary operations of the 
Spirit develop sound judgment; extraordinary gifts 
heighten sound judgment, they develop mental 
poise. The one sane mind in the world’s history 
was that mind which had the Spirit without meas- 
ure. He was in the succession of the prophets and 
built on their work. If a person who is in the 
prophetic succession yields to the temptation to defy 
the past work of the Spirit, he limits his prophetic 
usefulness. 

Spiritual maturity comes by life, and by life 
which takes advantage of what previous genera- 
tions have achieved. How much could a man hope 
to achieve, how far could he hope to advance in 
the arts of civilization who on a desert island had 
nothing with which to work but his two hands? 
Let no man hope to attain spiritual power without 


BESETTING PERILS 


213 


building on the labors of the men of the Spirit from 
the day of Moses to the present. The Spirit is not 
the author of chaos. It is wilful blindness to as- 
sume that the Spirit has not already placed in the 
hands of believers the keys to- a great storehouse of 
spiritual energy. It is nothing but downright lazi- 
ness to refuse to learn the use of these keys, and 
to learn how to utilize those things to which the 
keys open. God demands that men shall conform 
to the laws of spiritual growth and await their own 
maturity. There is needed a development of a real 
and symmetrical Christian consciousness even to 
its mature form of the church consciousness. No 
individual into whose spiritual life this develop- 
ment comes is open to danger of fanaticism, nor 
will he undervalue any gift of the Spirit. 

Thus varied are the dangers which beset the life 
or service which is blessed with an unusual degree 
of the presence of the Holy Spirit. 

Most men have much inner temptation to be con- 
tent to live in their lower possibilities. This temp- 
tation is a constant source of peril to high achieve- 
ment of any sort. It touches every man at his 
weakest point. Vanity, pride, indolence are all 
common foes and so subtle as easily to deceive a 
man into believing them to be worthy qualities. 
While he lives on earth he will never be beyond 
need of guarding against them. 


XXVII 


Why Do Men Ask for a Gift of the Holy 
Spirit and Fail to Receive It? 

T HIS is a question which perplexes many 
souls. The failure to receive the gift of 
knowledge or of power is the more common 
cause of asking the question. The reasons are 
several. 

One reason is that there is failure in complying 
with the conditions of receiving the gift. As the 
conditions are summed up in devotion and docility, 
so the failures may be in deficiency in one or other 
of this twofold condition. 

A man may not be willing to leave the choice to 
God of the gift he would have. He may close his 
soul against the entrance of some gift offered by 
God by the lack of intention to use it if it comes. 
He may be cherishing a purpose not to perform 
duties at variance with his desires. Thus he re- 
fuses to place his life entirely at God’s disposal 
for fear that some most distasteful form or place 
of service will be required. Too many times a 
minister of the Gospel after several years of serv- 
ice has had to confess that he has marred his min- 
istry by refusing to face the question whether he 
314 


WHY DO MEN ASK? 


215 


ought to become a missionary to some foreign 
country. Even though his duty should have been 
to stay in his own land he had left an unsettled 
question between him and his Master, and the 
shadow of it was always afterward across his path 
and the consciousness of it in his heart so that he 
was unable to let Christ dwell wholly with him, 
and he could not have that openness of mind need- 
ful for receiving the mind of the Master. 

Let no man assume that he knows better than 
God what is the work which he is best fitted to do. 
Before now an excellent pulpit orator has been at- 
tracted out of his true orbit by admiration for 
metaphysical discussion. The misfits of life are so 
frequently met that one asks why did God permit 
them to make such blunders. It is not to be be- 
lieved that he would have permitted it, unless the 
man’s indocility had prevented him from leading 
him into his proper place. * Let no man call him- 
self to some place of service, or to some form of 
service, else the Master may leave him to learn the 
folly of directing his life according to his own 
mind. Let no man run where he is not sent, or 
before he is sent. Leanness in his soul comes 
quickly. 

Is it not the case that a man sometimes thinks God 
is able to give strength and effectiveness in service, 
while at the same time he lacks faith in the wisdom 
of God for assigning him his work, or lacks faith in 
God’s control of human history sufficient to bring the 


THE SUPREME NEED 


£16 

man and his proper work together, and at the proper 
time? If a man fails to believe that God is able, 
willing and intending to make his will known as 
soon as it needs to be known, will he hold himself 
docile to the divine guidance? 

It should be remembered that God has never 
promised to bestow this or that specific gift accord- 
ing to the wish of a Christian. Such a promise as 
“If any man willeth to do his will, he shall know 
of the teaching whether it be of God, or whether I 
speak of myself ” does not guarantee a man wisdom 
to understand the teaching of Jesus. Jesus affirms 
that a soul genuinely loyal to God’s will shall know 
whether or not the teaching of Jesus is from God. 
He affirms no more. 

Thus in affirming readiness to equip a man for his 
work God neither indicates the specific form of work 
or mode of help from the Spirit. The Spirit divides 
to each one severally as he will. When a man’s 
will and that of the Spirit are at variance the man 
not only has no gift, but he even loses the power of 
receptivity. Thus the man may ask for the gift 
of persuasive speech. The Spirit may be offering 
him the gift of prevailing prayer. The man is so 
blinded by his desire that he is unable to recognize 
or to receive the offered gift. He thinks that his 
desire is denied him. The truth is that he is quite 
lacking in spiritual discernment because, he is self- 
willed, and wanting in the grace of humility. 

When men fail of a gift in this manner through 


WHY DO MEN ASK? 


m 


lack of docility, when they are not selfless, 
the underlying cause is self-seeking in some form 
(James iv. 3). Their underlying desire is that they 
themselves have and handle the gift, rather than 
that they be used according to the wisdom of the 
Spirit for a redemptive purpose. 

The man who wishes a gift and receives it not 
should remember that he may have lacked sincerity, 
or that he may not have complied with the condi- 
tions of guidance, or he may have refused to heed 
the indications which have been given. He should 
therefore set himself to learn if the Spirit is really 
in his life, and to learn if he is sufficiently in har- 
mony with God to discern the movings of the 
Spirit. 

Such questions as the following may be useful: 

Have I repented of sin; and do I put away all 
sins, even small ones? Do I put away good things 
which may impair the best things? Whenever I 
fear there is diminution in my spiritual life, do I 
first of all seek God in order to make sure that I 
am at one with him? 

Have I devoted myself to his service with a glad 
choice of his wisdom, so that I cheerfully accept 
the privation, or suffering which attends the dis- 
charge of duty? Do I remember how large a part 
suffering of some sort had in the service of Jesus — 
and of Paul? 

Do I constantly devote my service to God, and 
my possessions, and myself putting away personal 


218 


THE SUPREME NEED 


ambitions? And do I love God’s children, saved 
and unsaved? 

Am I so obedient that I gladly take and use the 
gift that is placed in my hands? Do I constantly 
remember that a Pauline obedience is possible for 
me, though a Pauline conversion was not? 

Again, have I faith that the Holy Spirit can give 
that which I need, and that He is the sole source 
of such gifts? Have I faith in the power of the 
Holy Spirit to produce results in the lives of men, 
to guide those lives? Have I faith in the reality 
and supremacy of the spiritual and unseen? And 
in the purpose of God to redeem the world unto 
himself? And in the sufficiency of Jesus Christ as 
Redeemer of all men? 

Have I faith that I am called to be a fellow 
worker with God? That God means to give me 
some gift for effectiveness in his service? That 
He will give it me when I ought to have it, and 
as I ought to have it ? Have I faith to go about my 
set tasks as though I had already received his gift? 

It is not likely that all these questions could 
find a perfectly satisfactory answer in any human 
heart. Therefore it is quite possible that the ask- 
ing of them might bring on morbid introspection. 
This is to be avoided. 

They may be asked in order that a person may 
learn the particular correction of his life for which 
the Spirit calls. For this purpose the questions can 
be useful. Until a person has an intention of bet- 


WHY DO MEN ASK? 


219 


tering his relation with God it is folly to ask them. 

There are other reasons why men do not receive 
the gift of the Spirit. The failure to receive power 
may be merely temporary. If the Spirit has moved 
a man to long with all his might to perform some 
service in the kingdom, it is doubtless the fact that 
the Spirit is preparing the man for some service. 
It may be that the realization is delayed in order 
to give the man’s longing desire time to perform its 
preparatory mission. It often is the case that the 
long-deferred fulfilment of desire is the one thing 
needed to fit a person to perform a service. There 
may be immaturity of character, there may be lack 
of spiritual tact for work, or lack of patience, or 
spiritual discernment may be too slight, conscience 
may be not sufficiently susceptible, or faith too 
wavering. 

It follows therefore that the gift which attracts 
a man’s ^desires may be one which God means to 
bestow upon him when he shall have become fitted 
for it by proper use of other gifts; when experi- 
ence shall have taught him sufficient wisdom to be 
intrusted with great responsibility; or when suc- 
cessful conflict with sin shall have brought strength 
to overcome the temptations which will beset the 
new opportunities. Let not man err through “ raw 
haste, half sister to delay ” in seeking a gift before 
the providence of God has brought it to him, or him 
to it. 

The person who would be greatly useful needs 


220 THE SUPREME NEED 

much training, but if he holds himself loyal to his 
highest desire, he will surely be used in some way. 
It may seem to him that the door is closed, it may 
be that the door is small and humbling, it may 
seem to enter only into a narrow and tortuous pas- 
sage, but if he will only enter and press forward 
in loyal faith, he will find it opening at last into a 
field of usefulness wonderful enough to content any 
faithful soul. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


This bibliography might have been largely increased by the 
titles of writings not yet seen by the writer, and by those 
whose contents are more adequately given in books here 
named. Asterisks are used to indicate those writings that 
have been most helpful to the writer whether by direct guid- 
ance, or by stimulus or suggestion. Not a few of the writings 
without the asterisk are more valuable than some, at least, of 
those with it. What they had to give have been obtained from 
other sources. 


General Discussion 

Cremer, H. : Article “ Heiliger Geist,” in Real Encyclopadie 
fur Protestantische Theologie. 3d ed. 

Denio, F. B. : Supreme Leader. Boston, 1900. 

* Goodwin, John, +1665 : IIAHPfiMA TO IINETMATIKS 2 N, or a 
Being Filled with the Spirit. 

Heber, Reginald : Personality and Office of the Christian 
Comforter (The Bampton Lecture for 1815). 

Hutchings, W. S. 1* Person and Work of the Holy Ghost. 
4th ed. London, 1893. 

Johnson, E. H. : The Holy Spirit, Then and Now. Phila- 
delphia, 1904. 

McClintock and Strong’s Cyclopedia: Article “Holy Spirit.” 
Morgan, G. C. : The Spirit of God. London, 1900. 

*Owen, John, H683 : The Holy Spirit. 

Schaff, D. S. : Article “ Holy Spirit ” in the new Schaff-Her- 
zog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge. 

Walker, J. B. : Doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Cincinnati, 
1869, 1874, 1890. 

To these should be added such works as Harris’ (Samuel) 
God Creator and Lord Over All, New York, 1896, which treat 
of the nature and personality of God. Also should be added 
the sections in the systematic theologies in which the same 
subjects are discussed. 


221 


222 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Biblical Discussions 

*Cremer, H. : Article n vev/ua in Biblico-Theological Lexicon 
of the New Testament (Biblisch-theologisches Worter- 
buch der neutestamentlichen Gracitat). 

*Downer, A. C. : The Mission and Ministration of the Holy 
Spirit. Edinburgh, 1909. 

Lechler, K. : Die Biblische Lehre von Heiligen Geiste. 2 
vols. Giitersloh, 1899, 1902. 

Marsh, F. E. : Emblems of the Holy Spirit. London, 1911. 

Redford : Vox Dei. Cincinnati, 1889. 

* Swete, H. B. : Article “ Holy Spirit ” in Hastings’ Diction- 
ary of the Bible. 

Wood, I. F. : The Spirit of God in Biblical Literature. New 
York, 1904. 


Old Testament Discussions 

Briggs, C. A.: The use of HD in the Old Testament, Jour- 
nal of Biblical Literature, xix, 132 ff. 

*Kleinert, Paul : Zur alttestamentlichen Lehre vom Geiste 
Gottes, in Jahrbucher fiir deutsche Theologie, xii. 1 ff. 
Not to be overlooked by any thorough student of the 
subject. 

Volz, Paul: Der Geist Gottes. Tubingen, 1910. 

Warfield, B. B. : Article in Presbyterian and Reformed 
Review. 1895. 665 ff. 

Valuable help is to be found in the Old Testament Theolo- 
gies of A. B. Davidson, A. Dillmann, G. F. Oehler and H. 

Schultz. 


New Testament Discussions 

*Adamson, T. : The Spirit of Power. Edinburgh, 1897. 
Briggs, F. J. : Acts of the Risen Lord. London, 1911. 
*Bruce, A. B. : St. Paul’s Conception of Christianity, 242 ff. 
Edinburgh, 1896. 

Cheseborough, A. S. : Offices of the Holy Spirit. New Eng- 
lander, xxxvii. 462 ff. 

Crane, L. B. : Teachings of Jesus Concerning the Holy 
Spirit. New York, 1906. 

Denney, J. : Article “ Holy Spirit ” in Dictionary of Christ 
and the Gospels. 

Falconer, R. A. : The Holy Spirit in the Apostolic Age, Pres, 
and Ref. Review, xi. 438 ff. 

*Gloel, J. : Der heilige Geist in der Heilsverkundigung des 
Paulus. Halle, 1888. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 223 

Gunkel, H. : Die Wirkungen des heiligen Geistes. Gottingen, 

l888. 

Swete, H. B. : The Holy Spirit in the New Testament. 
Cambridge, 1908. 

Winstanley, E. W. : Spirit in the New Testament. Cam- 
bridge, 1908. 

Valuable material for study is to be found in the New 
Testament Theologies of Beyschlag, Nosgen, Stevens and 
Weiss, also in Stevens’ Johannine Theology. 

Historical Discussions 

Baur, F. C. : Lehre von der Dreieinigkeit. 3 vols. Tubingen, 
1841-4. 

*Edghill, E. A. : The Spirit of Power, As Seen in the 
Christian Church of the Second Century. London, 1910. 
*Klaiber, Dr. : Die Lehre der altprotestantischen Dogmati- 
kern von dem Testimonium Spiritus Sancti Internum. 
Jahrbiicher fur deutsche Theologie, ii. 1 ff. 

*Nosgen, K. F. : Geschichte der Lehre vom heiligen Geiste. 
Gutersloh, 1899. 

Otto, R. : Die Anschauung vom heiligen Geiste bei Luther. 
Gottingen, 1898. 

*Simon, D. W. : Doctrine of Testimonium Spiritus Sancti 
Internum of the Reformers. Bibliotheca Sacra, 1891, 
27 ff., 369 ff- 

*Smeaton, G. : Doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Edinburgh, 1882. 
Swete, H. B. : Early History of the Doctrine of the Holy 
Spirit, 1873. History of the Doctrine of the Procession 
of the Holy Spirit. Cambridge, 1876. The substance of 
these two volumes said by the author to be contained in 
his article “ Holy Ghost ” in the third volume of the 
Dictionary of Christian Biography, 1882. The Holy Spirit 
in the Ancient Church. London, 1912. 

Weinel, H. : Wirkungen des Geistes und der Geister. Frei- 
burg, 1899. 

The Church Histories contain some material so far as they 
touch on doctrine. Valuable matter is to be found in the 
histories of Doctrine or of Dogma by Hagenbach, Harnack 
and Seeberg. 


Doctrinal Discussions 

* Athanasius, f 373 - Epistolae ad Serapionem. 

Augustine, t 430 - De Trinitate. 

*Basil, f379- : De Spiritu Sancto. Also various epistles. 


224 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


With these should be taken some writings by Gregory of 
Nyssa. 

Candlish, J. S. : The Work of the Holy Spirit Edinburgh, 
T. and T. Clark. 

*Clark, H. W. : Philosophy of Christian Experience. New 
York, Fleming H. Revell Co. 

Clark, W. : The Paraclete. Edinburgh, 1900. 

Didymus of Alexandria, f396. : De Spiritu Sancto. 

Jenkyn, T. W. : Union of the Holy Spirit and the Church. 

London, republished in Boston, 1846. 

Rolling, W. : Pneumatologie. Giitersloh, 1894. 

Kuyper, A. : The Work of the Holy Spirit. New York, 1900. 
Moberly, G. : Administration of the Holy Spirit. Bampton 
Lectures of 1858. 

Nosgen, K. F. : Wesen und Wirken des heiligen Geistes. 
Berlin, 2 vols. 1905, 1907. 

Pohle, J. : Article “Trinitat” in Wetzer und Welter’s 
Kirchenlexicon. 

Ritchie, W. B.: Revelation and Religious Certitude. Edin- 
burgh, 1907. 

Sabatier, A.: Religions of Authority and Religion of the 
Spirit. New York, 1904. 

Short, A. : Witness of the Spirit with Our Spirit. Bampton 
Lectures for 1846. 

Stowell, W. H. : Work of the Holy Spirit. London, 1849. 
*Warner, H. E. : Psychology of the Religious Life. New 
York, 1910. 

Walker, W. L. : The Spirit and the Incarnation. Edinburgh, 

1899. 


Discussions Chiefly Practical 

Arthur, W. : The Tongue of Fire. New York, 1856. Often 
reprinted. Excellent. 

Bounds, E. M. : Power through Prayer. Marshall Brothers, 
Edinburgh. 

Bradford, A. H. : Spirit and Life. New York, 1898. The 
Inward Light. New York, 1905. 

Brown, E. W. : The Divine Indwelling. New York, 1895. 

Campbell, J. M. : After Pentecost, What? Edinburgh. 

Clark, D. : The Offices of the Holy Spirit. London, 1878. 

Dawson, W. J. : A Forgotten Secret. New York, 1906. 

*Edwards, Jonathan, 1758: The Affections. Holy Spirit in 
Life and Service. Addresses, New York, 1895. 

Gordon, A. J. : The Ministry of the Spirit. 

Hare, J. C. : Mission of the Comforter. 4th English ed., 
London, 1877. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


225 


Jones, R. A. : A Dynamic Faith. London, 1901. 

Manning, H. : Temporal Mission of the Comforter. London, 
1846, often reprinted. 

McConkey, B. H. : The Threefold Secret of the Holy Spirit. 

2d ed. Harrisburgh, Pa., 1897. 

MacGregor, G. H. C. : Praying in the Holy Ghost. Fleming 
H. Revell Co. 

MacNeile, J. : The Spirit-Filled Life. New York, 1895. 
*Moody, D. L. : Secret Power. Chicago, 1881. 

Muspratt, W. : Work and Power of the Holy Spirit. Lon- 
don, 1910. 

Myers, C. : The Real Holy Spirit. New York, 1909. Real 
Prayer. New York, 1911. Person and Ministry of the 
Holy Spirit. Addresses, London, 1891. 

*Potten, H. T. : His Divine Power. London, 1905. 
Robertson, J. D. : The Holy Spirit and Christian Service. 
London, 1900. 

Schultz, D. Y. : The Paraclete. New York, 1903. 

*Selby, T. G. : The Holy Spirit and Christian Privilege. 
London, 1894. 

Smith, C. E. : The Baptism of Fire. Boston, 1883. 

Stackpole, E. S. : The Evidence of Salvation. New York, 

1894. 

Where the date is not given in a book the publisher is given. 


















































. 
































































INDEX 


Abnormal state, produced by 
wrong choices in life, 
62; is separation from 
God, 71 ; corrected by the 
Holy Spirit, 62f ; the 
selfish features of hu- 
man life, 73. 

Ambrose, 176. 

Aristotle, Metaphysics, xi. 7, 
104. 

Aspiration, hunger and thirst 
after righteousness, 82 ; 
kept alive by the Re- 
demptive Spirit, 8iff; a 
normal state of mind, 
83 ; develops into the 
passion to share the life 
of Jesus, 84; becomes 
hope, 135. 

Assurance, involved in Chris- 
tian hope, 136. 

Athanasius, 175. 

Augustine, 175- 

Authority, sense of in serv- 
ice, 148; for service, only 
when Spirit is present, 
42. 

Basil, 175. 

Battle of sanctification, what, 
97- 

Bede, 176. 

Begbie, Harold, 71. 

Belief, Christian, brought 
about by the Holy Spirit, 
44 f. 

Believer, Christian, depend- 
ence upon the Holy 
Spirit for efficiency in 
service, 42 ; and for 
growth in life, 50. 


Bible, one of the chief 
sources of Christian 
knowledge, 191 ; study of 
requires sympathetic ap- 
preciation, 107; the Holy 
Spirit as guide, 99; and 
interpreter, 100. 

Bibliography, 22iff. 

Blindness to workings of the 
Spirit, 167; works spirit- 
ual deterioration, 168. 

Boniface, Missionary, 28, 175. 

Bounds, 8. 

Buddhism, an antagonist of 
Christianity, 180. 

Calvin, John, 175. 

Capacities, of men, given to 
be realized, one’s capacity 
and the mode of realiza- 
tion imperfectly known 
by possessor, 59; restless 
until realized, 57. 

Capacity for God, supreme in 
man, 58. 

Cataclysmic, see “ Paroxys- 
mal,” conversion, effects 
of, 95- 

Christ, lordship of taught by 
Holy Spirit, 102. 

Christian, development, goal 
of, 130C 

experience, an important 
source of knowledge, 

191. 

history, proves need of 
Holy Spirit as guide to 
truth, 99. 

life and experience essen- 
tial for effective service, 
127; life is fellowship 


227 


228 


INDEX 


with the Father, 50; 
growth in, what, 52; of 
an individual, not an end 
in itself, 52; must be a 
life of service, 53 ; strong 
the best proof of Christ’s 
redeeming power, 53. 

living, the foundation of 
efficiency, 127 ; needed 
that preaching may be 
efficient, 53f; high stand- 
ard of conditioned on 
relation to Holy Spirit, 
11. 

nations, need to be chris- 
tianized, 7. 

service, high standard of 
conditioned on conscious 
dependence on Holy 
Spirit, 11. 

state, a, a noble ideal, 35. 

workers, may undervalue 
Holy Spirit, 45. 

Christianity, how it can have 
power to surpass other 
religions, 131 ; distinctive 
feature of, 11 ; early ob- 
stacles, and present dif- 
ficulties, 130 ; successes 
bring new difficulties, 
129. 

Christians, early, love of for 
all kinds of men, 22f ; at- 
titude toward Roman 
State, 25; endurance of 
persecutions, 24; test and 
deterioration under pros- 
perity, 27. 

Church, early, history of 
marvelous, 19; resources 
of, 20; victory of, new 
tasks after victory, 28; 
nature of victory, 22. 

Churches, failure to keep the 
presence of the Holy 
Spirit, 32ff; reasons, 36 f. 

Clark, 8, 86. 

Columba, 28, 175. 


Columbanus, 28. 

Common sense, what, I43f ; 
can be developed, I44f; 
a gift for service, 143 ; 
need of in service, 144; 
ower when reinforced 
y love, 145 f- 

Conversion, general descrip- 
tion of, 69f ; not abnor- 
mal, recovery of the 
normal, 62, 68; “par- 
oxysmal ” conversions 
not uncommon nor ab- 
normal, 71 f; or cataclys- 
mic, effect of, 95 ; the 
necessity is abnormal, 
62, 72 ; sometimes a mere 
consent, 78; the antece- 
dent commonly some ex- 
ternal occasion, 69f ; 
sometimes a complete 
break with the past, or 
merely the beginning of 
a new development, 95f ; 
or turning point, 96 ; 
various modes of, 6 gi ; 
work of Spirit in, 44C 
69f; two factors, 65; in 
Christian nurture, 72 ; 
introduces to sonship, 
85 ; of the world, rea- 
son to hope for, 74. 

Conversions, not the only ob- 
ject for which Chris- 
tians should labor, 46. 

Convictions, needed in ordi- 
nary Christian life, 50; 
needed by Christian 
workers, 47. 

Constantinopolitan emperors, 
34 - 

Courage, of apostles after 
Pentecost, a gift of the 
Spirit when needed for 
duty, an urgent need in 
life, 133 ; eagerness, 
ideals, aspiration, hope, 
assurance involved in it, 


INDEX m 


I34f ; supplemented by 
strength, 136. 

Cross, symbolism transformed 
by Holy Spirit, 22. 

Davison, 8. 

Death, existence outside of 
fellowship of the Father 
is, 51. 

Devotion, necessary to be- 
come fitted for indwell- 
ing of Holy Spirit, I95f ; 
necessary for power for 
service, 194 ; the out- 
working of, 179; must 
be selfless, 178. 

Discontent, how used by the 
Holy Spirit, 62. 

Disobedience, prevents Spirit 
from doing His work, 
214. 

Downer, 8, 137. 

Duty, to act as though Spirit 
was felt to be present, 
202; each duty has a cor- 
responding gift of the 
Spirit, 127; perceived is 
a call to prayer, 139; 
prompt performance of a 
condition of receiving 
the Spirit, 187. 

Edghill, 8, 24, 35. 

Edification, standard of value 
of gift of Spirit, 162. 

Education, mode of for great 
things, 48C 

Edwards, Jonathan, 175. 

Efficiency, i.e. edification, 
162; based on life, i28f ; 
conditions of, 34ff, I 26 ff ; 
the desire of a Christian, 
128; how it may come, 
158; not in one form 
alone, 39. 

Egotism, see selffulness, I96f. 

Elijah, lesson to, 182. 

Emotion, value of, 193. 

Emotionalism, danger of in 
religion, 209. 


Error, in doctrine, best cor- 
rective of, 34. 

Evangelist, dependent on 
Christian living for effi- 
ciency, 127. 

Evangelistic service, one 
mode of spiritual power, 
126 ; perils attending, 
203 f. 

Experience, not to be under- 
stood except as taught by 
Spirit, 100; an impor- 
tant source of religious 
knowledge, 191. 

Factors in revival of life, 
. 6 S- 

Failures in Christian history 
due to lack of Holy 
Spirit’s guidance, 99. 

Faith, essential to success, 
47; implied in desire for 
things better, 75f ; con- 
scious promoted by 
Spirit, not created, 76; 
is acceptance of Jesus 
Christ as Master and 
Saviour, 75; nature of, 
63. 75, 192; strong, a 
growth, 75 ; relation to 
other mental states, what 
an efficient disciple must 
believe, 192; essential to 
union with God, 76; an 
entrance into life, 78; a 
life in the unseen, 79; 
in the Holy Spirit’s ac- 
tual presence, though un- 
felt, 202 ; lack of will pre- 
vent a gift of the Spirit, 
215; lacking in a self- 
centered life, 76; lack a 
fundamental error, 63 ; 
Christian, the root of 
courage and hope, 136; in 
God, value of, 199C 

Faithfulness, meaning, one 
of God’s qualities, 114; 
realm of its manifesta- 


230 


INDEX 


tion, 1 13; a matter of the 
will, 120. 

Fanaticism, not promoted by 
gifts of the Spirit, 212; 
peril of, 21 1. 

Father, The, seeking friend- 
ship of normal, 63. 

Fatherhood of God, Holy 
Spirit teaches, ioif. 

Fear, pedagogic value of, 64. 

Fellowship with the Father, 
Jesus’ ideal of the Chris- 
tian life, 50; the normal 
destiny of man, 51. 

Fidelity, see Faithfulness. 

Figurative language, use of, 
68f. 

Finney, 40. 

Forbearance, a matter of the 
will, 120; see also Long- 
suffering. 

Freedom of man, what it is, 
59; where found, 64; 
purpose of, 6of ; some- 
times exercised in mere 
consent, 78 ; impossible 
without self-control, 118. 

Fruit of Spirit, io8ff; gen- 
eral characteristics and 
sphere of, not fruits, 
108 ; needed to be con- 
spicuously present for 
highest efficiency, 129; 
meaning of, 118. 
and natural powers , H9ff; 
not unconditioned, 121 ; 
conditions of, 119; due 
to cooperation of hu- 
man and Divine spirits, 
i2of ; normal, 132 ; how 
come, 125 ; why called a 
gift, 121. 

Gifts of Holy Spirit, for life 
and service, I32ff; min- 
ister to Christianity, 212 ; 
gifts for service, 14H; 
and “ natural ” powers, 
I52ff; not antagonistic to 


natural powers, 153; not 
newly created powers, 
157; special, when they 
can come, 161 ; how 
come, 122, 125 ; not un- 
conditioned, 121 ; condi- 
tions of, i2of ; proper 
mode of seeking, 155, 
i63f ; importance of right 
valuation, 162 f ; efficiency 
the standard, 162 ; mis- 
chief of erroneous esti- 
mation, 163; none to be 
despised, any gift of 
value, 204; selection of 
gifts the prerogative of 
the Spirit, 199; which 
may primarily be sought, 
164; questions to be 
asked by one who seeks, 
2i7f; withheld, perhaps 
men do not comply with 
conditions, 214 ; perhaps 
only for a time, 219. 

Goal, of Christian develop- 
ment, ssf. 

God, Fatherhood of, ioif; 
man’s chief good, 77 ; 
reaches out to man in 
Jesus Christ, 86; the su- 
preme reality taught by 
the Spirit, 104. 

Goodness, nature of, display 
of by Jesus, a quality the 
complement of kindness, 
114. 

Gospel, meaning and wealth 
of taught by Holy Spirit, 
103. 

Grace, laws of, i.e. prin- 
ciple of spiritual renewal. 
68 . 

Graciousness, see Kindness; 
nature of, akin to Long- 
suffering, 1 13; as shown 
by Jesus, ii4f; a com- 
plement to Goodness, 
1 14. 


INDEX 


231 


Greek literature, its under- 
standing demands a sym- 
pathetic appreciation of 
Greek life, 107. 

“ Growing Christian,” marks 
of, 179. 

Growth in Christian life, 
what, 52. 

Guidance of the Spirit, I39f ; 
conditioned on obedience, 
160. 

Habits, sinful, persistent, re- 
placing them by good 
ones, 95. 

Higher standards of Chris- 
tian living to be labored 
for as well as conver- 
sions, 46. 

Historical fact, value of, 19. 

Holiness, see Sanctification ; 
meaning of, 92ff; is 
Christ - likeness, 90; 
means thinking the 
ideals of Christ, 96. 

Holy character conditioned 
upon free choice, 119. 

Holy Spirit, see Aspiration, 
Christian, Conversion, 
Faith, Fruit, Gifts, Sanc- 
tification ; self-consistent, 
156; acts according to 
law, selfless, 178. 

Cosmic, source of original 
endowments of mankind, 
58, 132, I44f; present in 
all human life, 43; laws 
of must be obeyed for 
the mastery of physical 
world, 186. 

In history, office to estab- 
lish the kingdom of God, 
1 7; introduced Jesus and 
disciples to their minis- 
try, 46; filled hearts of 
early Christians with 
love, transformed sym- 
bolism of the cross, 22; 
raised woman to a place 


of equality with man, 23 ; 
enabled Christians to en- 
dure suffering, 26; used 
those sufferings to win 
adherents, 24; is the ex- 
planation of the Chris- 
tian church, 20; work in 
later centuries, 29; sole 
helper of the early 
church, 20; summary of 
the outstanding works, 21 ; 
what yet to be expected 
of him, 29; consequences 
of neglect of Holy Spirit, 
26ff ; causes of failure to 
receive Holy Spirit in 
early Christian empire, 
34 . 

Importance of study, con- 
cerning, 7; as important 
for the spiritual life as 
physical science for the 
physical life, 14; bene- 
fit of such study, 17; loss 
from disregard of Holy 
Spirit and his methods, 
19; methods of approach 
change from time to 
time, 38f ; knowledge of 
Holy Spirit indispensable 
to correct view of Chris- 
tianity, 11 ; the Holy 
Spirit the means for 
transforming character, 
24 ; the indispensable 
helper of the Christian 
in life, 13, 48ff ; the 
source of all that is good 
and true in human life 
and thought, and of 
noble ideals, 15; neces- 
sary for training in 
Christian life and for 
fulness of life, 50; gives 
growth in life, 52; the 
indispensable helper of 
individual workers, 42 ; 
and of the church of 


232 


INDEX 


Christ, 12; essential to 
the unity of the church 
of Christ, 16. 

Redemptive , work of based 
in his work as Cos- 
mic Spirit, 58, 153; 

educates by ordinary 
routine, 49 ; uses dis- 
satisfaction to open 
man’s heart to God, 74; 
and discontent, 62; main- 
tains right relations in 
normal constitution of 
soul, 62 ; a constant force 
moving for better things, 
57; movings adapted to 
bring a man into right 
relations with God, 64; 
work in helping man to 
self-realization, 6of; stir- 
rings not necessarily 
guidance, 176; alone im- 
pels or leads man into 
right relations, 64 ; de- 
rives motives from the 
sufferings of Jesus and 
his disciples, 67 ; con- 
vinces that God is man’s 
chief good, 77; continues 
to move for better things 
even though a man 
chooses the worst, 61 ; 
conviction of sin nor- 
mal, man’s condition ab- 
normal, 62ff; work of in 
conversion, 44, 69; uses 
natural powers for, 68 ; 
gives power to change 
center of personality, 
67f ; witnesses to son- 
ship, 85ff ; signs of op- 
erations in soul, i68ff ; 
redemptive work in life, 
174; signs of working in 
life, I75ff; result of re- 
demptive work, 180; con- 
ditions of receiving the 
Spirit in one’s life, 185ft. 


Sanctifying work, 90, 94; 
brings to highest planes 
in the spiritual life, 47; 
conditions of sanctify- 
ing work, i86f ; impor- 
tance of sanctifying grace, 
163; evidence for re- 
ligion of the highest 
value, 183; Spirit should 
be believed to be source 
of all good work for 
men, 39; and therefore 
indispensable, 42 ; why 
his presence is neces- 
sary, 46 ; why the con- 
viction of the necessity 
should be cultivated, 47; 
operations of underval- 
ued, 45. - 

Spirit as guide to truth, 
need of seen in New 
Testament and in his- 
tory, 99; indispensable 
for study of the Bible, 
99f ; and as interpreter 
of experience, 100 ; the 
truths into which he 
guides, ioif; how he 
leads into the truth, 105; 
illumination by, how 
gained, i88ff ; obstacles 
to, 189 ; enables a man 
to see realities, 78; leads 
believer by perils from 
ignorance, 96 ; guards 
against posing in Chris- 
tian life and speech, 54; 
present in even best men 
by measure, 175; gives 
love for service, 142 ; 
and common sense, 143, 
145 ; and power, how, 
146; uses and heightens 
natural powers, 152; se- 
cures efficiency through 
lives loyal to Christ, 128; 
needs such lives for the 
purpose, 53ff ; the sole 


INDEX 


233 


disposer of gifts, 199, 
216; ready to give Him- 
self as much as men per- 
mit, 186. 

Hope, Christian, nature of, 
135 ; involves assurance, 
136. 

Hunger and thirst for right- 
eousness, 82ff ; normal 
not an unrest, 82. 

Ideal of church, failure to 
reach, reasons, 36. 

Ideals, Christian, definite, 
134 ; involve aspiration, 
135 . 

Illumination from Holy 
Spirit, how gained, i88ff. 

Indolence, a peril, 207; espe- 
cially indolent content 
with minor good, 213. 

Initiative, the divine, 65. 

Intellect, unaided, is inade- 
quate to comprehend the 
truth, 99. 

Intercessory prayer, a gift to 
be sought, 164. 

Israel, literature of, see Bible. 

Jerome, 175. 

Jesus Christ, the approach of 
God to man, revealing 
and winning power, 86; 
devotion to will of the 
Father, 195; waited un- 
til gift of the Spirit be- 
fore entering the min- 
istry, 46; selflessness of, 
196. 

Joy, Christian, nature of, 
no, 120; fruit of Spirit 
belongs to all stages of 
the Christian religion, a 
duty in all circumstances, 
I09f ; an essential ele- 
ment of the kingdom of 
God, iii; the highest 
joy, 14 1 ; possible only in 
the Spirit, superior to 
surroundings, no; a 


testimony of the Spirit, 
indirectly result of hu- 
man will, 120. 

Kingdom of God, in what it 
consists, 50, inf; to be 
established by the Holy 
Spirit, 17. 

Kindness, see Graciousness. 
A matter of the will, 120. 

Language, an imperfect in- 
strument for conveying 
spiritual truth, why, 53f. 

Latent powers, development 
of, i57ff; sometimes 
quickly aroused, some- 
times slowly developed, 
159; a person cannot tell 
what they may be, 160; 
their full fruition comes 
in fellowship with Jesus 
Christ and under influ- 
ence of Holy Spirit, 161. 

Laws of the Spirit, need to 
be learned, 30; of Cos- 
mic Spirit and of Re- 
demptive Spirit, i85f ; of 
grace, 67, 190. 

Life, meaning of, due to 
presence of the Spirit, 
132; imparted by Jesus, 
124; from the Spirit pro- 
duces peace, sonship, joy, 
I24f ; successful due to 
obedience to Spirit’s 
guidance, 133; and litera- 
ture, 107. 

Literature, a great, not im- 
personal, and not to be 
understood in same way 
as mathematics, but from 
life, io6f. 

Livingstone, David, 175. 

Long-suffering, nature of, 
distinct from patience, 
one of God’s peculiar 
glories, 112; akin to 
graciousness, 113; com- 
pared with meekness, 


INDEX 


234 


116; a matter of the will, 
120. 

Love, for Christ, nature of, 
a fundamental condition 
for power, 193 ; brings 
passion for service, I93f ; 
the true marks of, a 
master passion in serv- 
ice, I94f ; a great illumi- 
nator, 184; value of, 199; 
of God, what, 86. 
for men, as a fruit, of 
Spirit, fundamental, 109; 
may be sought and culti- 
vated, as such is grounded 
in natural capacity, 164; 
to be sought as choicest 
gift, nature of, value of, 
165; as a gift is more 
than a fruit, the primary 
gift of Holy Spirit for 
service, 142; among early 
Christians intense, 22 ; 
reached down to the low- 
est and included all, 23. 

Loyalty to Christ, best cor- 
rective of intellectual 
error, 34. 

Machinery, of Christian ac- 
tivity may be overvalued, 
45 - 

Man, does not come into 
normal relations without 
the Spirit, 64; normal 
mode of response to 
God’s love, 86f ; alone un- 
able to accomplish what 
is normal, i2of. 

Meekness, nature of, may be 
worthy or unworthy, 116; 
compared with Long- 
suffering, 1 15; an atti- 
tude of the will, 120. 

Melanchthon, 175. 

Menander, 113. 

Message, when man may 
have, 42. 

Mind of Christ, as law of 


disciple a condition for 
the presence of the 
Spirit, 187 ; how to be 
sought, i88ff ; obstacles 
to gaining, 189L 

Missionary activity of Ro- 
man Catholics and Prot- 
estants, 29. 

Mohammedanism, an antag- 
onist of Christianity, 130. 

Moody, D. L., 40, 43. 

Morality, properly a result 
of religion, 31. 

Natural gifts, faithfully used 
become gifts of efficiency, 
152; powers and fruit of 
the Spirit, H9ff; and 
gifts for service, i52ff ; 
proper use of a reverent 
mode of seeking special 
power, 154; a basis for 
all special help of the 
Spirit, 156. 

Nature, second, not normal, 
man cannot change, 66. 

Need of all time in re Holy 
Spirit, 55. 

Needs, why the operations of 
the Holy Spirit should 
be studied, 16. 

Neglect of the Holy Spirit, 
modes of, 31 ; conse- 
quences of, 26ff. 

New England conscience, 115. 

Nonconformist conscience, 
115 - 

Normal, destiny of man, 133 ; 
condition of man right- 
eous, not sinful, 42f, 66; 
not life of disbelief or 
separation from God, 77; 
conviction of sin nor- 
mal, 62ft ; relation with 
God, 82f ; restored by re- 
generation, 80; mode of 
change from the abnor- 
mal, 157. 

Nurture, Christian, a form 


INDEX 


235 


of conversion, 72; nor- 
mal, processes of, 73 ; 
sometimes neglected by 
parents, 74. 

Obedience, a necessary con- 
dition of guidance by 
Spirit, 161. 

Openmindedness, an impor- 
tant condition for re- 
ceiving a gift, 6of. 

Origen, 175. 

“ Paroxysmal ” conversions, a 
normal change from an 
abnormal state, 72. 

Patience, work of, 137L 

Paul, life to be studied, 175; 
preparation of for serv- 
ice, 48f ; selflessness of, 
178P 

Peace, of Jesus, not a free- 
dom from pain, I23f ; 
not dependent on things, 
result of harmony with 
the will of the Father, 
124 ; analogous to vig- 
orous physical health, 
I24f ; comes from abun- 
dant life, because of union 
with source of life, 125. 
of the Christian, from 
Christ, part ministry 
of the Spirit, 122; an 
essential of the kingdom 
of God, 1 12; importance, 
meaning, nature and 
power, 111; involves 
habitual action of the 
will, 120. 

desired by the world, out- 
ward, I22f ; due to 
things, 123. 

Pentecost, beginning of Spirit 
in the church, 21 ; ob- 
stacles in way of, 40; 
training for, 48P 

Perils, of loss of Spirit in 
life, 5of ; in connection 
with gifts for service, 


20iff; with sense of 
power, 202 f ; of forget- 
ting danger of tempta- 
tion, 209f ; of content 
with low attainments, 

213. 

Persecutions, early, from 
Jews and Roman gov- 
ernment, 25; test of 
Christians, 26. 

Personality, true, centered in 
God, 67f ; spurious, in 
self-centered life, 76. 
cannot be changed by self, 
but by the Spirit, 67. 

Plato, Timaeus, sections 28- 

30, 104. 

Potten, 8 

Power, from Spirit essential 
for conversion, 67f ; and 
for service, 42; means 
effectiveness, 146; how it 
may come, 158; condi- 
tions of receiving, 128, 
158, 191 ; best mode of 
seeking, i63f; value of, 
167; proper estimate of 
spectacular gifts, 167, 
182; erroneous ideas of, 
126, 154; the promise 

from Jesus to disciples, 
when and why, 157; 
various modes of mani- 
festation, 146 ; not always 
known by its possessor, 
127 ; not present with an 
unwilling man, 177; but 
with a selfless and sin- 
gle-minded man, 178; 
with a devoted and doc- 
ile man, 214. 

Prayer, fundamental in life 
inspired by Spirit, vari- 
ous summons to prayer, 
139 ; efficiency as prep- 
aration for Pentecost, 
40 ; “ prevailing ” prayer, 
what, 148; intercessory 


236 


INDEX 


prayer the choicest gift 
of the Spirit, 149, 166; 
for what one should 
seek to pray with power, 
149ft ; biblical illustra- 
tions, 149. 

Preaching, needs proof in 
Christian lives, 53C 

Protestantism, advanced part 
of Christ’s church, 28; 
missionary activity of, 
29. 

Publicity, perils of, 206; 
temptations, 203C 

Reality, God the supreme, 
101, 104; knowledge of 
reality as related to 
power, 161. 

Redemption, see Holy Spirit, 
reality of, taught by 
Spirit, 103. 

Redemptive operations of 
Holy Spirit, partially 
recognized by person, 
169; signs of to person, 
170; to other persons, 
174; should be manifest, 
165C 

Redemptive work of Jesus, 
one of two resources of 
the early church, 23. 

Regeneration, revolutionary, 
biblical expression of, 
due to the laws of the 
Spirit, 68; brings about 
normal conditions, 80. 

Religion, life with God, not 
morality, worship or in- 
tellectual conceptions, 
3iff- 

Restlessness, due to Holy 
Spirit, normal, 57; an in- 
strument of the Spirit, 
6of ; how used, 62. 

Robinson, John, 175. 

Roman Catholicism, self- 
reformation of, 28; mis- 
sionary activity of, 29. 


Roman State, why a persecu- 
tor, 25. 

Saints, in New Testament 
not perfect, 91. 

Sanctification, term abused, 
90; care needed in use, 
9of; a New Testament 
word, 91 ; work of Holy 
Spirit and man, 91 f; 
three meanings of in 
New Testament, 92f ; the 
formation of habits of 
life and thought, 96; a 
battle, 97; the perfecting 
of holiness, results in 
Christ-likeness, 98. 

Sanctifying grace, impor- 
tance of, i63f; and effi- 
ciency in service, 127; in- 
creasingly necessary as 
condition of power, 129. 

Second nature, what, 66. 

Self-centered life, a spurious 
personality, without be- 
lief that God is man’s 
chief good, 76. 

Self-centering, abnormal, the 
greatest error, 61 ; not 
to be changed by the 
soul, 66. 

Self-consciousness, obstacle 
to religious sincerity, 54. 

Self-control, nature of, 117; 
gives inner freedom, 118; 
an attitude of will, 120. 

Self-examination, questions 
for, 56, 217L 

Selfful man, temptations of, 
i97ffi 

Selffulness, what it is, I96ff ; 
antagonistic to the Holy 
Spirit, 198. 

Selfless devotion, necessary 
for the fulness of the 
Spirit’s presence, 178. 

Selflessness, of Jesus, I96f ; 
what it is, 196ft ; more 
than unselfishness, 196. 


INDEX m 


Service, see Power; condi- 
tions of, 41 ; must have 
the Spirit, 46. 

Shakspere, Antony and 
Cleopatra, III - 13 - 1 1 1, 
168. 

Simon (of Samaria), 183; 
sin of, 210. 

Sin, abnormal, conviction of 
by Holy Spirit, 62f ; the 
refusal to accept Jesus 
Christ as Master, 63 ; 
meaning of taught by 
Spirit, 103 ; must be 
abandoned if one would 
receive the Spirit, 190C 

Sincerity, a mark of the 
Spirit’s presence in serv- 
ice, 181, 187; needs free- 
dom from self-conscious- 
ness, 54. 

Single-mindedness, a condi- 
tion for Spirit’s guid- 
ance, 178. 

Sixteenth century, religious 
phenomena of, 28. 

Smith, Gipsy, 43. 

Sobriety, nature and impor- 
tance of, 202. 

Sonship, of Jesus, 86. 
of believers, beginning of, 
85, 87; may exist with- 
out consciousness of, 
growth in, 87 ; the as- 
piration of the newborn 
soul, 82; may be claimed 
on basis of divine promise, 
88; marks of, 87f; mode 
of conscious develop- 
ment, 81 f; interpreted by 
the Spirit, 102; sense of 
a sign of His presence, 
170; it means develop- 
ment of holy character, 
9off. 

Spirituality, what it is not, 
172; what it is, I73f. 


Spiritual life, renewal of, 

66ff. 

maturity, comes by life, 
212. 

mindedness, erroneous 
ideas of, ijii ; what it is, 
I72f ; sign of redemp- 
tive working, 171. 

pride, danger of, 205. 

Strength, of character, comes 
by struggle, 97; for duty 
given by the Spirit, I36f ; 
results of, 137b 

Suffering, pedagogic value 
of, 64. 

Sufferings, of Jesus and dis- 
ciples as used by Holy 
Spirit, 24, 26, 67; effect 
of early Christians, 24, 
26. 

Tennyson, Passing of Ar- 
thur, 38. 

Temptations, in the develop- 
ment of the Christian 
life, 5of ; liable to use of 
the gifts of the Spirit, 
201 f. 

Tertullian, Apology, 22. 

Timothy, I78f. 

Titus, 178. 

Transfiguration, inner expe- 
riences, 74f. 

Truth, more than an intel- 
lectual conception, 106 ; 
not grasped by mere in- 
tellect alone but by the 
aid of the Spirit, 99; 
for He must be the in- 
terpreter, ioif. 

Truths, to which the Spirit 
guides, ioif. 

Twelve, trained by Jesus, 
48; more than his train- 
ing needed, 40. 

“ Twice Born Men,” value of 
the book, 72 ; the ex- 
periences often paral- 


238 


INDEX 


leled, 71 f; though not 
wholly common, 95. 

Unconverted men, spiritual 
development of abnor- 
mal, 66. 

Warner, 186. 

Wesley, John, 40, 175. 

Whitefield, 175. 

Wilfulness, common, 159; 
may cause seeking wrong 
. gift, 214. 

Will, of God, importance of 
devotion to, 195 ; to be- 
lieve, how brought to 
pass, 44f ; not to believe, 
a permanent factor to 
be overcome, 44. 

Wisdom, see Common sense; 
in service, as a gift, 143, 


165; why it is to be 
sought, i65f; a mark of 
Spirit’s presence, 180 ; 
how it comes, i8of. 

Witness, reasons of failure, 
54; qualifications for, 55. 

Witnessing, by life, neces- 
sity of, 53f ; by lan- 
guage, the artificial and 
genuine, 54. 

Woman, elevation due to 
work of Spirit, 23. 

World, right relation to 
man, 79. 

Worldliness, cause of dis- 
aster, 35. 

Worship, an expression of 
religion, 32. 

Zwingli, 175. 


PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 







* 
















































